Tom Keating : VoIP & Gadgets Blog
Tom Keating
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Mobile Phones

Mobile Phones, cell phones

An Unlocked iPhone 3G in HK?

September 29, 2008

Cell Phones: More Tapping Than Talking Now

September 29, 2008

For the first time in recorded history, we used our cell phones more for sending text messages than making phone calls! (Knew that day would come ...)

In the fourth quarter of 2007, the average subscriber's volume of text messages shot upward by 64%, while the average number of calls dropped slightly, according to Nielsen Mobile.

Not surprisingly, users with QWERTY-style keypads sent 54% more text messages than those with ordinary keypads. 

Teenagers 13 to 17 are by far the most prolific texters, sending or receiving 1,742 messages a month, according to Nielsen Mobile. By contrast, 18-to-24-year-olds average 790 messages. 

Thanks (as always) to the New York Times for filling my day with news.

Fingers by Anders Bergstrom; check out it here.









How about a 9-Megapixel Camera Phone?

September 26, 2008

Cell Phones Will Take over GPS Market

September 26, 2008

Motorola Femtocell Picture Frame Combines VoIP, Video, Bluetooth, Touchscreen and more

September 26, 2008


Check out this cool new converged prototype device from Motorola that combines a picture frame with touch-screen, video camera, Bluetooth headset, VoIP, femtocell, and video streaming. A femtocell is a small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small business environments that allows you to use your mobile phone in your home connecting to your femtocell access point.

Femtocells essentially are an alternative way to deliver the benefits of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) without the need for a dual-mode handset. In the Youtube demo video below demoed by Motorola representative Harsha Hegde, you can clearly see they're using the popular Counterpath Xten SIP-based softphone - also shown in the screen grab above. Motorola also demonstrates a femtocell mobile-to-mobile VoIP call, which is pretty cool.




NuTsie Streaming iTunes to Your Phone

September 25, 2008

Regional mobile carrier Alltel has launched NuTsie, a service that allows users of almost a dozen of the company's handsets to stream certain titles from their PC's iTunes collection to their cell phones.

This makes the operator the first U.S. carrier to offer such a service, which will cost $4.99 a month, or $19.99 a year.

To stream the protected and unprotected songs in a user's iTunes library, NuTsie does not actually place-shift songs from a user's PC. Instead, the service matches the songs in a user's library to the licensed songs stored in NuTsie servers, then streams only the songs in its server.



Landlines Going the Way of the Buggy Whip ...

September 24, 2008

According to a report released last week by Nielsen, nearly one in five American households will not have a home phone line by the end of the year.

To many, I have a feeling that this is a surprising finding, but it shouldn't be.

Landline home telephones are quickly becoming an unnecessary expense. What can one do on a landline phone that they can't do with their cell phone?

It's a little bit like that essential tool of the horse-drawn carriage age -- the buggy whip. It used to be a big business, but don't think you will find too many of them today.

Now what is going to happen to all of those telephone poles and wires some day when everything goes wireless?







Sony's Bluetooth Watch: Calling Dick Tracy!

September 24, 2008

Can't get to the ringing cell phone fast enough ladies because it's hidden inside your briefcase, purse, bag or pocket?

Well, does Sony have a product for you!

The new Bluetooth MBW-200 range of Bluetooth watches is an expansion of the highly successful Bluetooth MBW-150 range, which enables you to control your phone with your watch.

Missed an important call or SMS because you couldn't hear or find your phone at the bottom of your handbag? With the MBW-200 this is now a thing of the past. Using innovative Bluetooth technology, the watch displays the caller ID and vibrates as your phone is ringing or when you receive an SMS.

Reject or mute the call with a button on the watch or use the Bluetooth headset or mobile phone to answer the call and start chatting.

Designed in partnership with watch industry leader Fossil and the knowhow of Sony Ericsson, the MBW-200 series comes in three distinct designs; Sparkling Allure, Contemporary Elegance and Evening Classic.









Android: The Good and Bad with G1

September 24, 2008

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The G1, the first Android-powered headset, could be transformed in ways that maker HTC and carrier T-Mobile can't imagine. Google's Android is open to developers, who could write apps to unlock T-Mobile's G1, tether it as a modem or other things, an analyst said. 

Google is calling the announcement of the T-Mobile G1 an important milestone in the young history of Android. The first Android-powered handset to come to market is made by HTC with a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard.

The combination of Google's open-source Android mobile operating system, T-Mobile service, and HTC manufacturing comes less than a year after the Open Handset Alliance unveiled plans for Android.

Developers will have unfettered access to the G1's hardware and software capabilities to inspire innovation. The possibilities are vast, and more than 1,700 applications were developed during the Android Developer Challenge.







Laughable Blog Aggregator and Linking to news sources

September 22, 2008

I'm not going to go on another rant blasting blog aggregators or websites that steal other people's content (aka sploggers). However, I came across one website that took my content, re-worded one sentence and tried to claim it as its own. The change is so laughable I busted out laughing!

First, my blog entry titled Court Bans VoIP App on iPhone was one of the first if not the first U.S.-based news outlet to talk about how a German court banned the sipgate VoIP application on the iPhone. In the article, I wrote:
Apparently, the court felt that sipgate would "lure" iPhone users into "jailbreaking" their iPhones.


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