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At music business fair Midem, mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson has announced partnerships with music labels for its PlayNow mobile download platform. According to a press release, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard, IODA, The PocketGroup, Hungama, X5 Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone will together contribute a pool of around 5 million songs. PlayNow was launched in February 2004 as a platform for ringtone downloads. It has since been expanded and aims to launch as a comprehensive mobile music download station, PlayNow Arena, in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in May of this year.

Further European countries are to follow later in the year. By the end of 2008, Sony Ericsson hopes to have the new service available in around 30 countries. Finnish competitor Nokia already has a mobile music download platform, currently available in the UK only. It is currently looking for further partners from the music industry and hopes to extend its services to other European countries in the coming months.

On Sunday, the world’s fourth mobile phone maker, Sony Ericsson, revealed a new smart cell phone, which uses motion control technology. Z555 can be silenced by a single wave of hand. And this is only one of the new mobile phone’s cool capabilities! For example, the motion control technology also allows users to activate the snooze function of their phone by waving across the device. Sony Ericsson launched Z555 and two other impressive cell phones with the occasion of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show’s news conference from Las Vegas. Excepting the tri-band Z555 model, which features also a music player, FM radio and a 1.3-megapixel camera, Sony Ericsson unveiled two new models for its Walkman music phone handset line-up, including the Walkman W760 model. The W760 mobile phone features satellite positioning technology, as well as mapping software from Google, which allows people to follow step by step directions to their different destinations.

Sony Ericsson announced that the Z555 flip cover mobile phone will be available in the first quarter of 2008; for the Walkman W760 model people will have to wait a little longer, until the second quarter of the year. Sony Ericsson’s Walkman branded music phones have been quite successful in the recent period. However, despite this fact, Sony Ericsson still trails Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Motorola in the global market for cell phones.

Curious at first, having never even owned a compact digicam never mind a cameraphone before, I took one for a ride. I was glad I wasn’t handed a 2-megapixel point-and-shoot model but rather Samsung’s G800, which aside from a cellphone has a modest 5-megapixels, 3x optical zoom, focus assist lamp and Xeon flash. In fact, loaded with decent camera functions, the G800 is in some ways the first of its kind.

Folks, we’ve covered the basic now we’ll take a closer look at the camera features and image quality. You can’t really escape the fact that camera phones are becoming very popular these days: you see them waving in the air everywhere, especially in events such as concerts where ‘real’ cameras are prohibited. They aren’t just the simple single-button-capture-device that was commonly found in a typical cell phone anymore; now they’ve evolved into a much more comprehensive point & shoot digicam.

Orange announced the launch of its advanced new range of messaging services (MMS) with a further five Orange operations across Europe intending to launch similar services in the coming months. More than 12.8 million Orange customers in the UK will have the opportunity to access these advanced services that move messaging on from standard text, to messages that combine colour, photos, text and sound offering a greatly enriched messaging experience via a new range of Orange MMS handsets. They will also be able to receive update messages on news, sport and entertainment with the pictures to accompany the story. Innovative handsets such as the Sony Ericsson T68i - available with clip-on camera - will be used at launch. The Nokia 7650 is due to launch at the end of August with a broad range of handsets available in the run up to Christmas.

Orange believes that wirefree TM devices with this capability will be used by 40% of its customers by the end. This is further endorsed by Ovum’s prediction that MMS handset penetration will reach up to 50% at this time with MMS messages accounting for up to 30% of all person-to-person messaging in the same year. In the UK, Orange pay monthly customers will benefit from a simple, easy-to-understand pricing structure, where they will be charged 40p per photo message sent. Orange pay as you go customers will be able to access the services later in the year. 

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the company will begin marketing two new models of i-shotTM compatible phones, the D251i and the mova F251i, beginning July 15, 2002.The company’s i-shot service, which allows users to transmit still images taken with compatible mobile phones that feature built-in digital cameras, was launched on June 1, 2002, and it quickly became popular among users. The mova D251i phone is compatible with Sony’s Memory Stick DuoTM and is capable of saving a total of 1,670* photos, 700 in the built-in memory and 970 in the removable memory stick. It is equipped with a CCD camera that includes 170,000-pixel resolution, 8x zoom, and a built-in flash. In addition, a 256 STN color sub-LCD on the back of the phone displays the time and information relating to the operating conditions of the handset, such as remaining battery life, and also works as a viewfinder. The main display is a 2.1-inch, 262,144-color TFD LCD. The mova F251i is capable of saving up to 1,000* pictures in its built-in memory and can display the pictures like a slide show, changing photos automatically every four seconds. It is equipped with a CCD camera that features 110,000-pixel resolution. The sub-LCD also works as a viewfinder. The main display is a 2.0-inch, 65,536-color TFT LCD. The F251i also includes an antenna which flashes when the phone rings or at a previously specified time, like an alarm clock.

A user can select the color of the light from among 12 choices. DoCoMo will sell the D251i and F251i through all of the company’s sales channels. The price for the mobile phone is open (not fixed), while a standard accessory kit, which includes a battery pack, an AC adapter, and a desktop holder, costs 7,700 yen for the D251i and 6,400 yen for the F251i. An 8-megabyte Memory Stick Duo and its adaptor will be included with the D251i handset at no extra charge.

Austrian mobile network operator ONE launched ‘ONE COMPASS’ a new location-based service for mobile subscribers on 11th June. Based on Nokia’s mPosition solution, ONE COMPASS will allow users to seamlessly receive a wide range of location-based useful information. The location-based information may either be retrieved by SMS or WAP. With ONE COMPASS Leisure, customers are able to identify for instance the nearest live event, cinema or dance club. It answers questions such as: “Which movie starts soon in the nearest cinema?” or “Where will the next jazz concert take place?” The category “Free admission” lists all events with no admission fees in the neighborhood. With categories such as “live music” or “party” there are no obstacles to spending an evening creatively. ONE COMPASS Information makes provisions for emergency situations. This service offers the addresses of the nearest hospitals, pharmacies, banks or police stations, regardless of whether the customer is looking for a pharmacy or a restaurant. Users may select even further within individual categories, for instance according to the type of restaurant (Italian or Chinese) or opening hours (meals after midnight).These exciting service possibilities are made possible with the industry-leading Nokia mPosition solution.

Nokia mPosition finds a subscriber’s physical location and presents them with new value-added services made to order for that particular place on the map. The Nokia mPosition solution makes use of intelligent applications, multiple location-detection methods, location middleware and mobile terminals. The 3GPP standardized location methods used allow operators early access to specific markets with a cell ID-based solution, as well as with more accurate neighboring-cell measurement solutions. The methods provide an investment-secured evolutionary path to E-OTD (enhanced observed time difference) and A-GPS (assisted global positioning system) covering GSM, 3G (WCDMA/EDGE) and All-IP RAN networks.

A review by Geek.Com on Qualcomm’s new eagerly awaited devices ‘Fairbanks’ and ‘Anchorage’. The first model was the “Fairbanks” a handheld portable media player with GPS functionality. Basically the company got a solid GPS unit, slapped on a micro-SD slot, added live television playback, threw in a 3MP camera (video or still), and got this. It’s poised to be the next generation of GPS products as Qualcomm has a lot of faith in the expansion of functionality in GPS products as well as a belief that their assisted GPS is way ahead of the competitions. The device uses a lightweight GUI and this particular version is based on Windows CE, though any OS should work.

The other model, the more exciting one for most people, is the “Anchorage”. This is based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform so it will use a 1.0GHz processor (said to operate at 1/2 watt peak) along with WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, cellular, and a lot more good stuff. The unofficial word is that Snapdragon will offer close to the best power/performance ratio of anything on the market. The Anchorage device will be aimed more at productivity and the test model I saw had a QWERTY keyboard. The form factor of this model was a lot like the Nokia N810, but the actual design will be whatever OEMs want. So far we know that Samsung and HTC are on board, but there are a few others that are not official yet.

Anchorage and iPhoneh

The Anchorage was running Windows Mobile 5.0, which was only used for display purposes as any OS, even a full OS, can be run on the 1.0GHz processor. It also has the camera with video recording, GPS, and live TV playback capability. Because it has a cellular signal it will be prime competition for a device like the HTC Advantage, though it will also compete against products like the Nokia N810 and Sony mylo 2.Everything is still in its early stages and things will change a lot once the OEMs get their hands on them and start to customize. This may mean lost/added functionality as well as many different form factors and large swings in the price. All we do know is that we should start to see the devices released by the end of 2008, possible early 2009.

Some people don’t do much talking on their wireless telephones these days.”I text message probably more than I talk on the phone,” said Manalapan teenager Melanie Krutzel, 17, a senior at Communications High School in Wall. “I guess it is something I can do while I am doing a lot of other things.”Ocean Grove teen Jordan Whilden, 17, uses his cell phone to send text and picture messages to friends. “That is definitely, like, my main form of communication rather than calling people,” Whilden said. “You can just send it and be done.”Wireless carriers have noticed, putting out banks of phones for more than just talking. The ability to send a text is as standard as being able to dial a number.

Most phones also have some sort of Web browser. Now companies are plugging multimedia capabilities in their phones, such as listening to music, downloading videos or watching TV.”We have devices that can handle live television and movies and a variety of features, taking pictures, taking videos and sending them over the Internet,” said Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based telecommunications analyst. “We don’t see them talking about the quality of the call. The customers just assume there is an excellent quality call.”Now the customers are looking at all the other features.”Forget simple telephone dial pads.

This holiday season, Apple Inc. is putting its marketing behind the hot iPhone, which came out this summer and is offered through AT&T Inc. The now-iconic handset combines an iPod with a touch-screen cell phone capable of surfing the Web. Other wireless carriers followed. Recently, Verizon Wireless unveiled the Voyager by LG, a touch-screen phone with a full keyboard inside. A user can watch television on the phone, although the service is not available at the Jersey Shore.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of “China Mobile Phone Game Market Report, 2007” to their offering. The conception of Mobile Phone Game is defined to distinguish from the traditional computer game. Generally speaking, mobile phone game refers to game applications in mobile phones. Nokia installed the earliest mobile phone game Snake in its handset. With the development of handset terminal and mobile communication network, mobile phone game is becoming increasingly complicated.

As charging system of Mobile Java formally started in Sep, domestic mobile phone game was started up too. Several months later, mobile phone game users increased to 2 million. The number of users developed even faster after this, in it hit 15 million. The amount of the cell phone users in China had exceeded 500 million up to Oct 2007, and it is forecasted that China mobile phone game users would exceed 20 million in 2007, amounting to 24.43 million. With the rapid growth of the cell phone users and mobile communication industry, the mobile phone game has gone through from the simple pre-installed games, the download games to the color-screen Java game, large-scale network game and multi-player network game currently, and it would continue developing towards the trans-platform network game in the future. It can be forecasted that the mobile network game would be the future development trend for mobile phone game.

If you have a cell phone (and we’re pretty sure you do), have you thought about giving up your land line (a.k.a. a traditional phone that plugs into the wall)? Maybe you’ve already ditched your old talker. If you haven’t, consider how much you spend on your cell phone plan versus your land line. If you’re like us, you’ve either totally given up on a wired line to your home, or the bills from your cell provider make those wired bills look somewhat paltry. As it turns out, we’re not alone — according to recent government data, U.S. household spending on cell phone plans will for the first time in 2007.

Last year households spent on average $542 on their land lines, while dropping $524 on cell phone plans. Given the increase in extra services  video messaging, music purchases) available on the shiny new iPhones and BlackBerry we write about nearly every day, it’s no surprise that this year cell phone spending will top land line spending by a wide margin.