As we head towards the end of the year I’ve been thinking about some of the mobile companies and applications I’ve looked at this year and what’s missing from their line up. So, I’ve highlighted the key service enhancement I’d like to see from each of them in 2009.

The mobile VoIP space is a particular favourite of mine because it offers low cost calling, service innovation and improved coverage (for me, anyway). 2008 has been an exciting year for new services – I’ve used a few of them and been very impressed with what each has to offer. However, no one out there has got the whole package for me yet. Truphone has added more platform support with iPhone, BlackBerry and now iPod Touch joining Nokia S60, plus Truphone Anywhere to deliver Truphone service outside WiFi coverage. I’m a big Truphone fan but the primary enhancement I’d like to see is flat rate tariffing to deliver simplicity and predictability. Ideally a range of tariffs offering the choice of in-country calling or international would be good. Another favourite at the moment, DeFi Mobile, launched this year with superb call quality and an all-inclusive international flat rate tariff. DeFi’s initial service line‑up includes almost everything I need, with some neat features like simultaneous ring and call forwarding included in the standard tariff. What’s missing? Inbound and outbound SMS on my UK 020 DeFi number is a must to give me a single mobile number across both voice and SMS.

Niche providers in the mobile space continue to challenge the rates charged by the big operators for international calling and roaming. Swap your SIM card over to MAXroam and get great rates when roaming, especially outside the EU. Now that the EU has mandated lower roaming voice rates and is looking at data, I’d like to see MAXroam come back with finer pricing for EU roaming. Rebtel delivers great pricing for international calls and it’s big plus is that it just works from any mobile handset – no software, no SIM card swapping. Local in‑country phone numbers are becoming more and more useful with a number of service providers starting to offer them for a small monthly fee. The ability to add an inbound number to my Rebtel account that delivers calls to one or more of my registered numbers would be a nice addition and another revenue stream for Rebtel.

SpinVox has shown us what the future of voice mail looks like with it’s speech to text product. I’m surprised that none of the big UK mobile operators has yet embedded SpinVox in their propositions, so I hope 2009 will be the year that one of the operators decides to differentiate their voice mail from their competitors. Inevitably pricing will be pivotal here so I hope everyone’s sharpening their pencils!

Lastly I’m going to mention Evernote. Evernote is now my preferred repository for notes and anything I want to remember in the future. I’d like to see Evernote implement greater consistency in functionality and the user interface across the various versions.

So guys, a few ideas and now it’s over to you!

—

Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

I’m asking, what has been your favourite mobile phone, you have owned, ever!

I’ll start with mine. Now for me, this is an incredibly tough choice, it’s between the Nokia 3310, and the Nokia 3200! (Not exactly high-fliers, but allow me to explain).

The 3310 was my second mobile (2003), a replacement for my Sagem MC3000 that died on New Year (at twelve o’clock, which was a little scary). I hopped off down to Woolworths, and invested I think £60/£80 (I forget exactly) on the 3310.

Not only has this phone got to be the most difficult to break (I’ve thrown, sat on, dropped, spilt drinks over, run over mine quite a few times), but it also came with some of the most majestic ringtones ever (which I played whilst having dinner in Croydon Park Hotel once, not a good idea mind you), and the best game ever… Snake!

What I loved most about this phone was not only it’s simplicity, highly annoying but brilliant ringtones, and the game we all got addicted too, but just the pure awesomeness it had. It was revolutionary at the time, and its fascia customisability was brilliant. I bought quite a few myself, and new buttons (although the originals were the best).

Then in 2005 (January the eleventh to be exact), I bought my fifth or sixth mobile; the Nokia 3200. Now I was stepping into the world; my first camera phone and my first phone that had “Polyphonic Ringtones”.  This set me back, £80 with £10 free “airtime” as Virgin called it.

From what I remember many people hated the device, the buttons were odd (which I loved, and can text better on today, than on any other device), the camera was rubbish (but what did I care), and I was able to ruin the look of my phone by making paper templates to stick in the clear cover.

The 3200 had the features that the 3310 couldn’t aspire to yet; a Radio, a torch, the camera, voice recording, and a colour screen!

Nokia proved them-selves on durability with this phone, more so than any other. At this time in my life I spent the majority of my time falling off of my BMX, being completely clumsy, and still throwing things about. And it still worked perfectly (despite the aging battery) until September 2007.

It’s not only the devices I love, but the memories associated with them. The voice-recording feature on the 3200 was brilliant for recording dodgy singing or peoples snoring; and the 3310 – day long battles with friends, competing to get the highest score on Snake. (Mind you, I was eleven!)

I could ramble on endlessly about the brilliance of both of these devices (which I would be more than happy to use today). Which brings me to you!

What is your favourite mobile device you have ever owned? It can be one you have now, or one you had ten years ago; whatever it is, tell me what it is. I wonder how many of us consider our current devices our absolute favourites!

Any questions, or anything send me an e-mail at Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com and I’ll get back to you!

Let the memories commence!