The rumored Microsoft Zune Phone may be released sooner than later, and it will come loaded with Windows Mobile 7 as well as a 5.0-megapixel camera. Should Apple release a new iPhone (4G?) in June/July, it just might have some competition from Microsoft this time around.
Turns out that leak we saw of the Jawbone Icon was for real after all, but it was only one of the six designs straight out of Aliph’s oven: (clockwise from top left) The Thinker, The Rogue, The Hero, The Ace, The Catch and — our favorite — The Bombshell. While these are the smallest and lightest Jawbones ever, Aliph has managed to cram in an allegedly improved NoiseAssassin and simultaneous dual-phone linkage, along with an onboard ‘AudioApp’ which vocally broadcasts battery level and caller ID. If you prefer a visual indication, the Icon also does a battery gauge on the iPhone — a first on a non-Apple Bluetooth headset — and apparently “Apple’s aware of this” so a firmware update shouldn’t kill this Palm Pre-style. We’re digging the MyTALK website — currently in beta — where you can pick and install other AudioApps and DialApps (for the multifunction button; e.g. voice dialing, free directory assistance and voice-to-SMS) onto the Icon, and both will be free except for some DialApps which require subscription. Oh, and there are seven earbud sizes plus an earloop to keep everyone happy too. When you’re done with picking, hit the Verizon stores for the initial launch today and pony up $99.99.
Just as we’d heard, RIM decided to outsource the production of the planet’s first BlackBerry watch, but that doesn’t mean that devoted BB Messenger users won’t be hankerin’ for one. The inPulse Smartwatch for BlackBerry is being produced by Allerta, and now that it’s official, we can safely say that it’ll rely on Bluetooth in order to bring incoming emails, text messages and other alerts from your handset to your wrist (or your ankle, if you roll like that). As for specs, you’re looking at a 1.3-inch OLED display, glass lens, full metal body, vibrating motor, microUSB port and a rechargeable battery that’s good for around four days of “normal use.” inPulse users will have to install a special BlackBerry application in order to pass along information, but those hoping to use their watch to actually send messages will be sorely disappointed. It’s up for pre-order now at $149, and if all goes well, the first ones will ship out in February.
Apple’s iPhone grabbed the no.-1 spot in a recent customer-satisfaction survey rating smartphones, beating rivals LG and RIM BlackBerry.
Conducted by JD Power, the survey polled customers worldwide on satisfaction with their smartphones between January and June 2009. Customers rated their smartphones based on factors including ease of operation, operating system, features, physical design and battery life. 3,221 smartphone owners, who have used their current smartphone for less than two years, participated in the survey.
In the smartphone survey’s point totals, Apple scored 811. LG scored 776 for second place, and RIM BlackBerry scored 759 for third.
In separate surveys, JD Power also polled customers on satisfaction with smartphones in business as well as satisfaction with traditional cellphones (i.e. non-smartphones).
Apple nabbed the no.-1 spot for smartphones in business, with a score of 803, followed by RIM BlackBerry with a score of 724. This portion of the survey polled 1,148 enterprise smartphone users.
For overall satisfaction with traditional cellphones, LG ranked highest with a score of 723, based on responses from 12,595 cellphone owners.
Most interesting are the results for customer satisfaction with smartphones in business: The iPhone beat the BlackBerry. In the past, critics have said the iPhone was inadequate for business use, citing its lack of security features and a physical keyboard. And for a while, the RIM BlackBerry has been hailed as the smartphone of choice for professionals. Perhaps iPhone OS 3.0, which introduced copy and paste, combined with the slew of business-related iPhone apps available in the App Store, are winning over enterprise smartphone users.
The new Sound ID 400 Bluetooth Headset offers some features that no other headset current offers:
PersonalSound – offers users 3 listening modes, tuned to the most common hearing preferences, to choose from in order to further enhance speech clarity without raising the volume.
Environmental Mode – enables users to hear equally out of both ears in-between calls. When this mode is activated, the hearing ability is enhanced and soft sounds can be heard while wearing the headset – allowing clear conversations “On” and “Off” the phone. This is a great feature as most of us like to leave our headset on in-between calls.
Compatibility with the Sound ID CompanionLink Remote Microphone – The CompanionLink is a small clip-on device that syncs with 400 and can be worn by a conversation partner or placed near a sound source to pick up audio at its origin for a richer sound experience. Clip the CompanionLink on the person sitting or at the back of the mini-van to clearly hear them over any wind noise, place it near the TV to better hear your favorite sitcom or place it at opposite end of the conference table to clearly hear what colleagues are saying.
It will be available at the end of this month for $129.99.
During CES 2009 they showed the PowerMat. This was the first time for wireless charging done simple. Now Duracell is entering the market with a similar product called the myGrid SmartPower and it looks to be a little easier than that PowerMat. What we saw of the PowerMat was that you needed to attach a sleeve to your gadget in order for the wireless charging to initiate. From the looks of this picture it seems that the connection between your gadget and the mat is a much smaller attachment that isn’t going weigh things down as much. I like that schematic better but I am not so sure I want anything attached to my phone or gadget during the course of my day. No word yet on price but it will ship sometime in October.
A project codenamed “Square” is the brand new iPhone-base payment processing system that’s currently being alpha tested at the also brand new Self Edge NYC. In addition to keeping the process paperless, Square makes check-out clean and easy. The innovation is in a small, plastic card reader that fits in to the headphone jack of an iPhone (or iPod Touch) and transfers the credit card’s swipe data to the app (pictured, right). After the employee enters the amount to charge the customer confirms by scrawling their signature with their finger and then either one enters the customer’s email address to send the receipt to. The payment is processed by Square for a small percentage plus a fixed fee; the funds are transferred directly to the store’s bank account, cutting both time and complexity on the processing side. The customer’s receipt includes a map showing the location of the transaction which is handy for those who record, sort and file such things (pictured below).
While allowing anyone from a hot dog vendor to a bike messenger to process credit cards on-the-go, all we can say at the moment is that consumer to business transactions are just the beginning.
As a Steve McQueen fan you can just dream away on the wonderful 60’s tunes from the soundtrack of Bullit (’68) by famous Argentinian composer Lalo Schifrin. Schifrin has also been responsible for the soundtracks of Dirty Harry, and Mission Impossible among many others.
The chances of me being genuinely amazed at something I see a Belgian tech company achieve are rather slim. But occasionally, it happens. Last week Robin Wauters from TechCrunch went to a local entrepreneur meetup BetaGroup and saw five startups pitch their stuff to the 200-person audience.
The last one to get its five minutes of fame was Cherry, a new mobile operator that promised to “revolutionize the telecom world”. Needless to say, I was as curious as I was skeptical.
Then the company’s CEO got up on stage, introduced himself, took out his Nokia smartphone, called some random guy in the audience and had him call him back on his phone afterwards. Projecting his mobile phone screen on a bigger screen for everyone to see, he demonstrated how he didn’t need to launch an application and just browsed his contact list to call the other person. Standard functionality, sure, but the cool part of it was the fact that the phone was lacking the presence of a SIM card, which is supposed to identify you as a subscriber of a telephony service.
I was intrigued. By now you’ll have guessed that the calling was done over Wi-Fi, which I suppose isn’t really unique even if it made me wonder how they did it without launching a third-party app like Skype. Looking to learn more, I went to their official coming-out event the evening after, when they presented the newly founded company to a host of local geeks in more detail, giving them the chance to beta-test the service for a couple of weeks to iron out bugs before launching publicly.
Here’s how it works: Cherry - which is essentially an MVNO - pre-installs software (so yes, in the demo there was actually an application running in the background) on smartphones which it will sell as a packaged product, starting with a Symbian version for Nokia E-Series phones and expanding to other platforms later. Once activated, Cherry lets you call your contacts either over Wi-Fi or the GSM network when you insert a SIM card. Take out the card, and you can only call over a wireless Internet connection.
The funky part? Cherry automatically switches you from one to the other. This process, called a handover, can seriously cut into your current calling and roaming costs when you’re a frequent traveler or on the road often, and it doesn’t even require you to change numbers. You could easily dial your office number from your home over Wi-Fi, leave the house and have the software automatically have Cherry switch you over to a carrier’s cellular network once you’re out of range. There’s no interruption of service during the handover, which means you won’t even notice - until you receive your bill, since it’s obviously cheaper to call over Wi-Fi than the GSM network. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I think this automatic handover is a quite unique value proposition.
The new line of THINERGY Micro-Energy Cells from Infinite Power Solutions Inc (IPS) could soon be powering small devices such as autonomous wireless sensors, powered smart cards, active RFID applications, and implantable medical devices. The manufacturer says these tiny, rechargeable, thin-film batteries combine the energy density of traditional batteries with the high discharge current of supercapacitors. With some models measuring just 0.5 inches square (12.7mm) and less than 0.01 inches thick (0.17mm), IPS claims these are the most powerful batteries for their size.