Some people, as I very well know, are not blessed with this kindred ability to use anything that has buttons. I have my Grandparents, a perfect example of the “older less inclined”, my Mum, the “not so old inclined”, and then sadly, even people who are about my age of seventeen or slightly older or younger, who are completely bamboozled by their mobile phone.

Now, it’s not surprising; in recent years or months, we’ve become inundated with technological advances, or a numerous collection of applications and abilities that our mobiles can now perform. Long gone are the days of playing “Snake” on your 3310, and thinking you were the bee’s-knees… We have the internet now!

But, what is the point in all of this, if what I read this week is in by any means shape or form, even remotely true.

Apparently, a survey conducted in both the UK and the USA has found that out of those questioned, some 45% prevented themselves from upgrading their phones due to “set-up issues”.

Following that, more surprising is that 61% of those questioned, had given up using Applications altogether because it was too complicated, and problems couldn’t be solved.

This is a very important aspect of any technological industry to bear in mind. On MIR we often to refer to people as “normobs”, in fact, I fall under that category. For the vast majority of people who fall under that category, who like those questioned have become completely perplexed at that ringing device that they haul around with them? How many of them are actually aware of the features that said mobile has, or doesn’t have?

More importantly, how is the industry going to change this? How are those like my Mum, the Grannies, or even my friends (who I try to educate in the ways of the Mobile Phone as much as possible), and the rest of them; what is going to happen to them?

To look at this logically, what is the point in having any technological advances when figures, which are pretty high, suggest that even in this booming age of computers, internet, socialising, gadgetry, and creativity, there’s an actual fear or distaste to moving forward because they simple cannot comprehend their phone.

Now as much as I would like to think we could “educate the masses” by introducing “how to use your mobile” into the curriculum, or even have someone standing in the Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U, who will happily guide through every detail of your beloved new buy… I just don’t see this happening.

Even so, whatever plan that tries to fix this obviously quite crucial problem in the market, I hope that it works!

Samantha.
samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

Firstly, I call for originality.

I personally think originality should be the first aspect of any design; and one would imagine that being original with design would be high if not on top of the list of things to do when making a new product… But I don’t see it a lot.

Most mobile phones are pretty much the same thing with a slight difference, and upgraded something-or-another; and it doesn’t hold interest. I don’t need a mobile that is only slightly different from the one I own now, so please, don’t try and sell it to me!

I’m not one full of ideas (and I will never claim to be), however, there are thousands of younger people in the UK, and millions around the world who I’m sure have at least a single idea on how to improve mobile phones, and come up with an original idea.

It is due to that, that I find no excuse for what many manufacturers are doing now; and when I look in the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U or any other mobile-phone shop, and I see the same design specifications and in some cases even just the same physical design, I’m annoyed!

Secondly, a good deal!

Now this is where you get the “student” side to me; the side where I source out the cheapest possible deal. Going back to my first point, do something original at the same time (if you can), like Nokia and their “Comes With Music” – I said it when it came out, and I’ll say it now – BRILLIANT! That’s the kind of thing I love to see.

When I walk around the shops, complaining of the cold, wishing I had a Hot Chocolate, or even that Christmas would end, I want to be tempted to fall back in love with Christmas again. Give me something I can get excited about; a price that is so outrageously competitive that I will part with my cash there and then.

The Mobile networks? Well, couldn’t you give me a Christmas present too? How about a nice reward of getting say half of whatever I top up in the month of December free? (So I top up £10, and I actually get £15?)

And finally…

And this goes to pay-as-you-go more than anything else; bring me some good news about tariffs!

I’ve noticed more than ever my addiction to Facebook, and I’ll admit I spend far too much of my time thinking about Facebook and being on it. It’s edging on the slightly crazy spectrum, but I’ll survive.

The point is though; I can’t feed my addiction well enough. I want to browse on my mobile for a reasonable price, and at the same time I don’t want to be on a contract.
I know some networks (Orange are all of who I can think of right now), offer little bundle systems for browsing, which is a step in the right direction; but I want this on all networks; so that no matter who I am with, I can browse away on my mobile endlessly updating my status, and poking people. Or even check my e-mail; for a good price!

I know it’s too early to be discussing Christmas, but with any luck someone might take notice before the Christmas Eve rush, and this Christmas could be full of lots of mobile delights!

Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

—

So everyone, including Barack Obama, knows that the slickest way to market your product (or candidate) is with a native app for the slickest phone ever, the iPhone.

As traditional forms of advertising like TV, radio, and newspaper slowly die-off, perhaps innovative measures like this are the next solution.

But you have to do it right. Two apps that get it right are Zippo Lighter and Carling’s iPint.

Zippo Lighter, “Lit by Moderati” as it says on the launching screen, is no joke. You get to pick from a selection of colors/patterns for your lighter, the flame moves as you move your phone, and the flame even turns blue and makes the phone vibrate when you hold it upside down. Flicking the lid open gives you a satisfying “click,” and spinning the wheel of the lighter produces a nice flinty “thwick”. It’s actually a genuinely cool app, and even though it’s simple, it’s an app that I haven’t just used once, it’s something that I play with a lot. It came in handy for last week’s Neil Diamond concert (seriously).

Carling’s iPint was actually available at the launch of the App Store, and kudos to them for being on the leading edge. The actual “game” within iPint is only mildly amusing, but pouring and drinking a beer is awesome, and like the Zippo app, it draws “Ooohs” and “Awwws” from all the iPhone uninitiated I show it to. There are several paid beer app called iBeer, but why do we even care to pay when we have iPint for free? Actually, people might pay, because for some reason that I don’t know, iPint is no longer in the App Store. Maybe Apple was thinking of making a competitive beer app and had it pulled?

Living in the US, I had never even heard of Carling. But I Googled them and found out that they are a top UK beer. Even if I may not become a loyal Carling customer, they reached someone in another market and got them interested enough to Google their product. If you’re trying to build awareness for your product, reaching people for the first time who don’t know you is always the hardest.

Lastly, let’s talk about a company who got it all wrong: Audi. I could go on about the Audi A4 Driving Challenge and everything that’s wrong with it, but it’s so awful that I don’t even want to dissect it. Let’s just say that the controls are so wonky that it’s more painful than fun. Between this game and reading the recent tweets from Carlo Longino of MobHappy, my opinion of the Audi brand is at an all time low. Re-badged Volkswagens they are!

So nice work, Zippo and Carlings, two brands with which I now associate the warm fuzzy feelings that come from a slick iPhone app!

As ever, if you are an application developer or just have a application that you want to share with the MIR readers drop me a line (ricky@mobileindustryreview.com)

You probably remember the PMN from its recent round-trip to the Maldives, courtesy of Ewan. Were it not for it spending practically all of the holiday stuck in customs, I’m sure he would have given it a decent going over, but alas it was not to be. When he got back and offered to let me give it an in-depth review on his behalf, the 5 hours of driving to go and pick it up seemed worth it to get hold of something that could easily be described as ‘every telephony geeks wet dream’.

Background

So before we get stuck in, lets talk about what it means to be a Mobile Network Operator (MNO). Note, that we’re not talking about about an MVNO here.. its Virtual counterpart where you ‘borrow’ another networks infrastructure and white label it as your own. In that scenario there’s another wizard behind the curtain and, believe me, his pockets are filling with gold a lot faster than yours. No, I’m talking a real bonafide “get-yer-masts-out” MNO.

The wealth of technology that powers your favourite operator, assuming you have one, is not for the faint of heart (or the light of wallet). Back in the good ‘ol days of GSM your typical telecoms dictionary, describing the sea of acronyms and components that make up such a network, was ‘only’ the size of a small paperback book. With the advent of EDGE, CDMA, 3G/UMTS and other technologies, all substantially different from those used in a typical wireline provider like BT (but having to interoperate all the same) the mobile telecoms world is now a very complicated beast indeed. These days, you’ll be hard pressed to find a single book that describes it all, and those that you do find tend to be about as portable as a breeze block. Whilst the worthy pursuit of becoming a telecoms guru has always been reserved for those with a penchant for masochism, they now also require a sturdy desk.

The miniaturisation of technologies that enabled us to go from the old brick-sized “car phone” (remember those?) to the likes of the tiny Nokia 6300 didn’t happen over on the infrastructure side of the mobile industry until fairly recently. Pico- and Femto-cells were the results of this, technologies which Dan Lane is hoping to run an in-depth feature on shortly.

Now you’re probably under the impression that those small Pico-cell boxes are a one box solution; that all you need to have in your office, in order to increase your mobile phone reception, is a little box on the wall. Unfortunately, they’re only part of the puzzle – the Pico-cell reduces the cell towers that we all know and love down to a small paperback-sized unit, but a lot of the heavy lifting (radio management, signaling, telecom gateways etc.) has to be performed elsewhere. At a bare minimum, to get just the regular services that you’re used to like SMS and the ability to call people, you’ll be needing a plethora of bizarre sounding acronyms: a BSS, BTS, BSC, an MSC, an SMSC, maybe a GSN, and your trusty Pico-cell, as well as an MGC and MG for access to the regular telephone network. It’s as complicated as it sounds, and whilst I won’t bore you with what those mean specifically, I will say that historically, each one usually comes in the form of a big piece of hardware that you bolt into one of several racks, and costs a small fortune. The Pico-cell manufacturers recognised this early on, and took steps to create entirely software-based versions of each of these components, allowing them to be run on commodity server hardware but the fact remains that behind-the-scenes of your “enter a number and press the green button” experience there lies a dizzying number of components.

Review

The Teleware PMN RDU.. in all its glory!

That Teleware has managed to shoe-horn all of the above (and more) into a small hamper-sized suitcase in the form of the PMN, is no small feat. Tipping the scales at 21kg, the PMN is more “luggable” than portable, but we’ll forgive them as there really is a lot of hardware inside, as well as a fairly meaty battery pack.

The PMN is a quite a sight to behold, both my other half and her parents mentioned that it looked like something out of a Bond movie. If that’s not worth the price of admission (around £20k), I don’t know what is. The outside of the box is fairly minimalist, with two small mobile antennae near to the handle, a power port and switch, and a connector for the break-out box on the side which we’ll cover in a moment. On opening the box, the top half is fitted with foam, cut to hold the included 4x JCB Toughphone’s, the break-out box itself, and various cables, with the lower portion of the unit containing the heart of the PMN (which, for the record, is marked as containing “No User Servicable Parts Inside”).

So how complicated is it to operate? On the laminated instructions that accompanied the PMN, entitled “Rapid Deployment Unit” (they really know how to get a techies heart racing) it all boils down to this: flip the power switch, and wait 5 minutes. It’s really that simple.

The JCB Toughphone logged onto the Teleware PMN

After 5 minutes, the PMN will emit the faintest beep I’ve ever (not) heard in my life, and there’s a good reason for this – the speaker is buried in the depths of the unit, surrounded by some very thick plastic. Whoever wrote the manual was either super-human, or had the lid off at the time. But no matter, you’ll know when it’s working, because you’ll be giggling like a school boy when you realise that all four of the JCB Toughphone’s just logged onto your very own Private Mobile Network.

For the avoidance of doubt, this isn’t VoIP-over-WiFi, DECT or anything like that. This is a proper GSM Mobile Operator Network, using all the relevant standards, and even supports EDGE data. That also means that the included JCB Toughphones are just regular mobile handsets, and you can even use your own handsets which I’ll come onto shortly. You do need a license to use the radio frequencies that the PMN operates on, but don’t let that put you off – Teleware already handled that, so the device is legal to use in the UK. For other countries, Teleware do state that you may need a license in that country (probably a good thing it got held up in the Maldives customs then!) but I’m sure if you asked them nicely they’d point you in the right direction.

SMS between phones through the PMN... for FREE!

So what can you do with the PMN? Each of the handsets has an assigned phone number 8041-8044, and between them you can call, conference and SMS and it all just works. It is quite simply stunning that Teleware have managed to reduce all of the complexity I mentioned, down to a single power switch. And in fact, even slightly more complex configurations like connecting the PMN to the regular telephone network, or even a VoIP network, is very, very easy.

The web interface on the RDU allows you to do various things, including call routing and adding additional SIM cards to the system. I’m sure I broke all sorts of Terms & Conditions, but I did manage to get the RDU to let my T-Mobile USIM roam onto it as well. That was a great day, because T-Mobile’s coverage where I live is shockingly bad, and to see my iPhone automatically roam onto a decent mobile network (my own) as soon as I get home was something I would pay real money for.

The PMN break-out box was originally designed for use in submarines.

Now, being able to call between yourselves is all well and good, but I’d quickly get bored if I could only call four people who were within the devices stated 350m range. So we obviously want to be able to dial regular phone numbers from the handsets. To do this, we simply connect the metallic break-out box (which seems to have been designed by someone who spent a lot of time on a submarine) via an impressively dense connector (which seems to have been designed by someone who works on fighter jets) to the PMN. The break-out box adds 4x FXO ports (mapped to each handset), a VoIP LAN port, and Management LAN port to the unit. The FXO ports, along with the included cables, allow you to connect the PMN directly to up to 4x analogue phone lines (you can literally plug them straight into your BT line at home). Once you’ve done that, you can immediately dial your gran and tell her that you’re calling from your very own mobile network (not that she’ll understand) – and best of all, you’ll only be paying BT’s far more reasonable rates for the call!

JCB Toughphone using FreeSWITCHâ„¢ via the PMN

As the name suggested earlier, the PMN RDU (to give it its true title) was obviously designed for rapid deployment, and so the inclusion of VoIP makes a certain amount of sense – it’s unlikely that there’ll be 4x BT sockets ready and waiting in the places where the PMN is deployed. There’s no  configuration needed on the PMN to enable VoIP, as it automatically sends all outbound calls both to the FXO ports and to a preset IP address accessible on the VoIP LAN port. All you have to do is to have something listening at the other end with that  address, such as an Asterisk® or  FreeSWITCHâ„¢ soft-switch running on a laptop, or a VoIP gateway from the likes of Nokia et al., and you’ll be able to route your calls however you wish (which could be an internal phone network, connection to a VoIP provider over WiFi/LAN/Satellite connection etc.) – the flexibility offered by this is enormous, and I’m glad they took the time to include it.

So how have Teleware managed to squeeze all this technology into one box? Well, I figured the PMN was working just fine and wasn’t in need of any kind of “User Service” and I was completely within my rights to crack it open. So I have it on very good authority that the innards contain a Picocell from ip.access, a VoIP gateway from Nokia, a battery, and a small (but fairly powerful) embedded PC. The whole system is solid-state, with no moving parts save for a couple of fans which don’t really vent anywhere as I could see. This lack of ventilation made me somewhat nervous, as a couple of times the unit kept saying it was getting a little warm – and I couldn’t help but think that, were I in a tropical jungle, and not in fact in a living room, we might have some problems. That aside, there’s not too many power sockets scattered through the jungle, but fear not intrepid explorers as the internal battery in the RDU will power the whole unit for about 6 hours, and there’s even a a small cable sticking out of the unit into which you can plug the JCB Toughphones to charge them up. Rather smartly, the PMN will even SMS all the phones to let you know when the juice is running low. So you can rush back and.. plug it in?

Of course, this is all useless if the RDU doesn’t work “in the field” (and amusingly, you could actually use it in a field if you so wished). Whilst the RDU performed admirably during my indoor tests, when I ventured outside armed with my trusty JCB Toughphone, I was somewhat surprised to find the signal dropped off when I got to the end of the drive-way. Now this would be all well and good, were that I lived in a mansion with a 2 mile-long drive from gate to house. Alas, I do not (yet). So I was a little puzzled by this, and after scouring the configuration, and repeated (un-answered) requests to Teleware support to try and resolve it, I was left feeling a little cheated. I’m going to assume that it has at some point managed to achieve the intended 350m range, because the data-sheet never lies, right?

The Teleware PMN RDU runs both Windows and Linux.. simultaneously!

The other interesting component is the embedded PC, not because of the hardware per se but because of the sheer amount of software that it’s actually running. It’s no surprise that it gets a little warm in there on occasion, as the 600mhz CPU tries to keep up with running not just Windows Server 2003, SQL Server, and a whole bunch of Teleware software, but also Linux and a whole bunch of ip.access software.. simultaneously.

It seems like there are two very different vendors at work here – ip.access have been around since 1999, and supply the Picocell used in the RDU alongside their Linux-based BSC/BTS software to make it all work. As I mentioned earlier, there are more components to this than just the BSC/BTS though, and Teleware were left to their own devices to implement the MSC, SMSC and administration interface. Surprisingly (and for reasons unknown), Teleware chose to write all their software for Windows, adding an enormous (and unnecessary, in my opinion) layer of complexity because the poor 600mhz PC running inside the PMN now has to run not only Windows and SQL Server, but a virtual machine running Linux as well, courtesy of VMware. It’s actually a wonder that the machine a) works at all between reboots and b) manages to boot up in even 5 minutes, and sheds some light on the included instructions recommending that you shut down the system when you’re not making calls to prevent data corruption.

Sorry? Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the whole point was that you could roam around with your JCB Toughphone, without lugging the PMN behind you. If you have to go back to it to turn it on when you want to make a call, it seems a little pointless, and leads me to think that this is more of a prototype to see if the market is interested, than a full-fledged and stream-lined product at this point.

This leads me to question who the PMN is aimed at. As a technology demonstration, well done boys – it works as advertised and, niggles aside, is a very impressive piece of engineering considering what’s involved. But who will buy it? The underlying technology is perfectly suited to an office environment where you want your employees to roam onto your private network for cost-savings, security and such-like, and this is in fact what the various PMN solutions that Teleware offer aim for, but putting all of that into a portable form factor seems to me like a solution in search of a problem.

One of the industries Teleware seem to be aiming the RDU at are the emergency services, to enable them to communicate during a crisis (apparently we might turn off the regular mobile networks in such an event, and other such scare stories). Frankly, in a crisis situation the limited range of the device would just add confusion and frustration, and I certainly wouldn’t put my faith in this device as it stands until it’s made a lot simpler and more robust on the software side. That being said, all of these are problems that can be solved fairly easily, and in software and I hope that Teleware take the points in this article on board and turn this into a really solid product, as they obviously have the background and technical savvy in this space. It’s an impressive piece of kit, very flexible and the underlying technology would work great in an office environment. I’d whole-heartedly recommend Teleware if you’re looking to deploy Femto- or Pico-cell technology, and if I had a spare £20k I’d definitely buy an RDU for personal use, even if it were just to have one more piece of Bond-esque gadgetry at home.

- Jay Fenton

Conclusion

The Teleware PMN really is every telecom geeks wet dream, and despite concerns about the long-term reliability of the RDU itself, as a demonstration of what Teleware can achieve, they really can deliver on the promise of having your very own Private Mobile Network.

For more pictures of the PMN RDU, visit the Flickr stream.

The Good

• It does what it says on the tin. Your very own (portable) Private Mobile Network.
• Impressive concentration of technology.
• Very simple to operate.

The Bad

• Not convinced that it can cool itself effectively.
• Range might be an issue.

The F-Ugly

• Complex software implementation, may not be reliable.

All up to speed on the QR craze?, excellent. Now then, I’m a sucker for startups that sell an actual physical product. Anyone with half a clue and a computer can start a software company but to actually make a physical product that people can hold in their hands requires hard work, serious planning and a large chunk of the founders money. Usually all those things are required before the first sale is ever made.

I’m not sure P8tch creator John Young would even call P8tch a startup but as a customer of his “hobby” I’ve experienced the excellent personal service I’d expect from a young startup. John’s product idea is simple, but brilliantly executed; order a P8tch from the website (cunningly located at http://p8t.ch) and John will send you a 2″ x 4″ velcro backed polyester patch printed with your choice of graphic (there are six designs to choose from) and a unique QRCode of a URL on the p8t.ch server (more on this in shortly). You’ll also get a couple of 2″ x 4″ sheets of velcro that you can stitch onto things in order to attach the patch.

When your p8tch ships you’ll get an e-mail containing some PNG files of your unique QRCodes, your matching URL and a login to the p8t.ch server so you can point your p8tch URL to something more meaningful.

If you’re like me (and I hope for you’re sake that you aren’t) you already wear the sort of clothing that has velcro attached for patches (see photo) and you can just slap a p8tch straight on there and hit the town where passers-by will notice your QRCode, scan it and be amazed by whatever you’ve linked to.

At least, that’s the plan, and that’s EXACTLY how it would pan out if you went to the sort of gatherings I go to (MIR Unlimited Drinks, Mobile Geeks of London, MoMo… you get the point). So this is a product entirely for hardcore geeks, since QRCodes haven’t really had any widespread acceptance outside of Japan I can’t really see this taking off with normobs any time soon.

There are other issues as well, being a US product the p8tch site often mentions how it can be scanned with the iPhone. Unfortunately due to the limitations of the device the iPhone is a dreadful QRCode reader while the N95 and most of Nokia’s S60 camera phones do a fantastic job of reading the code from my sleeve using any of the freely available readers (personally, I use Quickmark).

Last but not least, the designs. Artist Kenn Munk designed the six images that adorn the p8tch’s and to be brutally honest they are very stylised and, with the exception of the flame, not entirely to my liking. As with all things art though, it’s in the eye of the beholder.

So that’s p8tch. I love the idea and will endeavour to wear mine at all times… keep an eye out for me at the next mobile event I’m at because you never know when scanning my p8tch will result in a message saying “Hey, thanks for scanning me… if you show me this message I’ll buy you a drink!”

We have a flame design p8tch to give away in next week’s MIR show so keep an eye out for that as well as some more p8tch coverage, if you can’t wait until then you can pick one up from http://p8t.ch for the very reasonable price of $19.95.

Now I need some professional headshouts of Dan, Ben and James…

I’ve mentioned this before (and no, I’m not complaining), but the iPhone really isn’t my cup of tea. I’m not that bothered about what people think of my mobile phone; I mean I was walking around with a Nokia 3200 until September last year. In fact, if my Nokia 3310 wasn’t dead, I would happily use that, with no care about its age or looks.

The iPhone to me, just screams “look at me, I’m expensive, and glamorous; come and feel my touch screen! You know you want too.” – And to put it bluntly, this isn’t me. My mobile has to be practical, and it has to do what a mobile should do, to a good standard, and importantly at a good price.

Okay, the iPhone may work well (I can’t yet vouch for that yet), but is it worth what you have to pay? And yes, I’m aware you can get iPhones for “free” on contracts; but does paying £75 for a contract sound like free to you? Or maybe more importantly, is it practical for a sixteen year old?

In simple terms that is a straight-forward no!

Then there is the fact it’s trying to be an MP3 player. I, unlike many people, do not like iPods. I once did, but after hearing the sound quality, and even having to endure using iTunes on my computer, I quickly realised what a horror it was. There is also the fact; I like to have separate devices for my MP3 Player and mobile.

I want my MP3 player to sound amazing, and my experience of listening to music on mobile phones, is horrible. I love my music, don’t get me wrong, but when I listen to it, I want it to sound good, not half-arsed, and distorted. iPods, as far as I have heard (and I’ve had the horrible pleasure of using and listening to quite a few), sound horrific. So surely it can’t sound much better as a mobile device either?

Then there are the applications. My mobile phone is used for texting, making calls, and for the radio when I’m out and about. I rarely use the internet due to the cost, and because Mobile sites drive me insane; and I don’t require much else. I like to have a camera in case I don’t have my Digital Camera on me, but that’s it really.

At tops my mobile phone requires a camera, a phone book, the ability to send and receive texts, calendar, FM Radio, Alarm and a torch.

Basically, I’m a normob at its best!

Maybe you can see why I don’t like the iPhone. It’s not because it’s crap (it may not be), but it’s because the iPhone isn’t a phone I require in my life. It draws too much attention to itself, and doesn’t suit my general purpose or needs. I don’t like phones which are designed purely to make other people, and their mobiles feel bad. Remember those cute Carphone adverts with the lonely phone? Well, I see the iPhone as the creator of that phone; it’s too brash and it tries to put other mobiles to shame.

Should I mention too, that I think it’s too big, the camera is wrongly positioned, and I don’t like touch-screens too?

However, despite this ramble which may just sound like a moan and it isn’t, I’m more than willing to admit that I’m wrong. I may be stubborn, but I will admit when I’m wrong. I want to see if the iPhone can win me over! Can I even be persuaded to buy myself one? Or, is it going to make me realise I was right, and in fact there are a collection of other annoyances about the device too?

Well, we’ll see in a couple of weeks, and see if I was wrong after all!

We’re busily working through your entries for the Mobile Industry Review Awards 2008.

We’re now at the stage where we’d like to offer sponsorship slots for the awards. We’ve already had a few slots go, but here are the details. You can download the very cool PDF if you click smsawards.

Email me: dan@mobileindustryreview.com

The Mobile Industry Review is giving away 20 awards to honour the best

(and one dreadful) in the mobile industry. After hundreds of nominations

it’s now time to announce the winners. Awards will be presented online.

? Best handset

? Best application in mobile

? Best marketing campaign

? Best public social use of mobile

? Best business person in the mobile industry

? Best use of SMS text message

? Best mobile marketing manager

? Best business use of mobile

? Best instant messaging tool

? Most innovative operator

? Best blogger

? Industry hero

? Industry villain

? Best service

? Best gadget

? Best reader

? Best user

? Best value product

? Best CSR story

? Best PR campaign

Note: Companies cannot sponsor a category they have entered

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Associate yourself with the best and brightest in the mobile industry!

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See yourself winning time and time again. Show your mum. Show your friends…

Sagem, and mobiles in general have changed a fair bit since 2002 (when I got my first phone), and I was expecting Sagem to push along with that change. Creating a device which lives up to its stylish, and cool name; but I don’t think it did.

Firstly the looks; don’t get me wrong it looks lovely, but I’m not won over by it. The chrome finish on the front is only half completed on the back, which does hit you right in the face, reminding you that despite how much it’s tried, it’s not a high end phone.

This though, seems to be a fault that only I care about; as both my Mum and Grandma fell in love with the phone – I think my Grandma might even look to buy one – and certainly some of my friends were mildly impressed.

The usability of the Ice is also another winner for the “baffled” – it certainly amazed my Mum who proclaimed that “If I can use this phone, anyone can!” – A bold statement and one which I’m not too hesitant to agree with either.

Saying that though, due to the degree of simplicity of this device you cannot expect anything other than basic personalised adjustments to be made; if you want a mobile you want fine tuned to your idea of perfect, forget the Sagem. If you want a mobile to work straight out of the box, and you’re not that bothered about customisability, then you’ve found a perfect partner.

As far as features go, for seventy pounds, you really can’t go wrong. A FM radio player (perfect for someone like me), and a basic built in media player. These are ideal if all you want is to listen to a couple of songs, or if like me, you can’t resist a bit of Classic FM on the bus – but that’s purely personal preference.

You’ll also find a 3.2 megapixel camera too – although be warned, on the low quality screen the pictures will terrible. Don’t let that put you off, because once on your computer/laptop screen they’ll look a lot better. I would say, use the USB Data cable provided to do this, but that’s an extra; at which according to the Sagem site sets you back over £30!

The Sagem also has the ability to video record (which even the iPhone 3G can’t handle), which I believe is a must for any camera phone. However, due to the lack of USB cabling, you may find it hard to actually use your videos. I only managed to move pictures and music around because I have more than one phone on me, which was not only a long process, but one that would put me off using the camera.

Another slight problem I had with the Ice is once again the positioning of the headset connector. Being placed at the side of the phone not only makes the device about two centimetres wider, but also annoys the hell out of you when it continually falls out. I was also quite put off by the camera side buttons, they weren’t placed where they should be, which makes holding and shooting uncomfortable, especially in landscape view.

Despite everything the price will make the Sagem Ice a pure winner. For what is it is, you get plenty to keep yourself occupied if all you want is a phone for calling and texting on. It’s sleek enough to look stylish for anyone of any age or gender, but it’s also simple enough for any age and gender. The “leather” case included not only looks more realistic than the Nokia E66’s, but feels better too.

I fear though that Sagem have over-estimated their target market. I asked some friends “Would you consider buying this phone?” and because of its brand it was mainly a “no”. I, and many other “young people” have strong brand loyalty ties, mainly in the Sony (and Nokia); that’s because they have always been there. They have a presence, which frankly Sagem have never had. I doubt then, purely for this reason, that many pre-existing phone owners of the 14 – 18 year old margin will go out and buy this mobile.

Don’t get me wrong, Sagem are finally producing something worth more of a mention, but it’s too late. I see this as a “first mobile” for some, and ideal choices for people like my Mum and Grandma. Not exactly the “cool” teen market they were aiming for, but a market nonetheless.

Find some pictures I’ve taken by and of the Sagem by clicking “here”.

Have any questions? Post them below, or e-mail me at samantha@smstextnews.com

Invisible Shield is the well-reviewed clear-plastic wrapper for mobile devices including iPods and laptops.  Its incredible claim is that it protects devices making them scratch-proof.  Having seen the demo videos I’ve no doubt that’s true.

One of the privileges of writing for SMS Text News is that you get to review stuff that manufacturers send out.  Sure, you have to send it back eventually, but you get to give a product a good workout before buying it and recommending it to other people.  This is not one of those reviews… I paid £14.99 at my local Carphone Warehouse for an iPhone 3G wrap.  If you want the quick version take a look at the picture above (that’s my kitchen bin) and you know all you need to….

In slightly more depth: The pack comes with front and back covers and a small spray bottle of what looks like water.  Following the instructions I peeled the front cover off its backing, sprayed it with the solution, laid it on the front of the device, lined it up and used the special plastic tool to squeegee the few bubbles away. 5 minutes later it had dried and looked great.

The back was less of a success.  Whilst the front had been a simple flat-glass face, the back of the iPhone is curved and needs cut-outs for the keys, speaker, microphone and SIM tray.  I applied it twice following the same routine, but the corners wouldn’t stick… I tried again and used the techniques suggested on the manufacturer’s site.  Still no joy.  The problem (aside from getting the cover aligned) was that the corner segments overlapped the microphone slots at the bottom and the corners wrinkled – looking as if they had too much plastic in them.  I tried one last time… disaster.  In removing the cover a second time some of the adhesive remained on the phone and subsequent applications gave a bubbled, cloudy appearance.  After an hour and a half of trying I gave up…

Instead of both sides, I just considered keeping the front face-covering on and had a play with the device in this state.  However, the Invisible Shield adds a tacky finish – ideal I would imagine for the back where you hold it – but it wasn’t pleasant in comparison with the slick feel of the iPhone’s glass screen normally.  It came off.

I’ve no doubt Invisible Shield does what it says regarding protection, but it’s current iPhone 3G template (which differs significantly from that pictured on the website) didn’t fit well for me on the back of the device – the only place I’d consider using it.  I can’t recommend it.

If you want a really thorough review take a look at what Steve has written over at AllAboutSymbian (launch review, multimedia, screen size) – I had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time at the launch and the depth and detail of his write-up is top-notch. This are my first usage experience…

The good:

• I was wrong about the ‘leatherette’ case. There I said it… wrong. In podcast 10 I scoffed and called it ‘low rent’. This evening it came between the E71 and the pavement – not a scratch on either. I love it.
• The design is gorgeous. Not just ‘better’. People are actually going out of their way to say how nice it is. Even an E51 owner (which shares much styling) commented it was better. My E61 was not a pretty thing… this just is.
• The size is excellent and its noticeably the slimmest phone I’ve had for some time. The screen is a good resolution and size combination and the keyboard, although tighter than the E61 and E61i feels great – I believe Nokia when they say 70% of people who blind-tested it preferred it.
• The software that had changes is much better – big ones for me are the customisable home screen and the alert icons that now appear at the bottom to show received SMS, missed calls etc. Also the new calendar is a vast improvement as is the ‘long press’ clock preview screen that shows the time when the keyboard is locked.
• The battery life is still excellent – I’m getting the same amount of usage as I did on a recent N82 loan for a few days between full re-charges. The N82 often barely lasted a day.
• The GPS is incredible – 15 seconds is the longest it’s ever taken to get a lock from cold… coupled with the much-improved Maps 2 it’s a life-saver. With the high capacity battery I’ve been geo-tagging and navigating without a second thought.
• Phone and memory card encryption ‘just works’ with no appreciable speed impact. It’s good to know my personal data on the memory card is safe, at least, from opportunists.
• The price – at €350 unsubsidised that’s mid-range S60 money and in line with previous models.

The bad:

• It’s a fingerprint magnet. The back particularly doesn’t just show marks, but visibly discolours until wiped clean. Do the Finn’s not have sweat glands in their hands?
• It didn’t have Mail For Exchange on by default…. and it’s supposed to be a mail-centric phone. Once on it behaves well, but Roadsync does’t appear to be happy – freezing occasionally. A shame as I’d prefer to use Roadsync for the folders capability.
• The mail client isn’t updated, nor is the crappy IMAP handling. Really… This is Nokia’s class-leading e-mail phone? To be fair, it’s unchanged, but that means it’s unchanged since the E61 as far as I can tell. I would have traded half the improvements in the now-excellent calendar for something in this area.
• Media performance is patchy. I asked at the launch if people would be confused by the overlaps in the E and N-series ranges and they said ‘no’. They weren’t joking. Day time images are fine otherwise things get a bit dicey. The processor can only handle the choppiest of QIK streams over 3.5G although local video capture is smooth. To be fair it’s good enough for my business needs (white boards, business cards), but not for anything else. At this price that feels fair, but it does leave me wanting a premium E-series device with something more in this area.
• The new ‘orchestral’ Nokia ring-tone irritates everyone who hears it except me so far… not sure why – it just does. I think it’s something to do with it being similar, but noticeably different to all the other ‘standard issue’ phones in the office.

Overall? It’s good but not great. Do I feel let down? A bit, but we’d all assumed this would be a top-end all-singing, all-dancing model and in many respects (particularly form-factor it is in many ways), but inside it’s a mid-tier business phone and that it does very well… except for the basic messaging interface which is still too basic and deserves Ewan’s anticipated bile.

Improved in many areas, no worse in the rest. A strong ‘B’.  Will I pay my own cash for it?  Yes… but I’ll secretly long for a premium E-series in a similar shape.

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A few demo pictures… The good:

And the pretty awful:

The best QIK I managed on high quality:

The most reliable setting:

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I was going to write quite a bit about the noise cancelling features of Aliph’s new Jawbone bluetooth headset, but to be honest there is no point, I recorded the tests I made and you can listen to them and make your own mind up about how well the Jawbone performs in the various real-world situations I used it in.

While I was unable to convince anyone with a convertible to let me sit in the passenger seat and make calls while we drove around with the top down I did test the handset in the following three situations:

* In my office, with loud music playing:

* In my office with the air conditioning on full:

* On the back of a boat, travelling up the Thames (obeying the posted speed limit) stood between two giant turbine engines:

I paired the Jawbone with my iPhone and called a number I’d setup that recorded all incoming calls. In each recording I give an example of what the audio quality is like with the Jawbone Noise Assassin features turned on, off and using the iPhone as a normal handset.

My opinion is that the Jawbone does a great job when there isn’t much background noise but when any serious background noise is introduced the Noise Assassin just falls apart. It wasn’t too bad at filtering out the air conditioning though. In every test the iPhone, while not doing as good a job at filtering out the background noise, did manage to make me sound more audible than the Jawbone. My biggest problem here is that I have no way of knowing if I sound clear to the person on the other end of the call, on some occasions the Jawbone was slightly misaligned and didn’t pick up anything I said.

As for the device itself, it certainly feels like a premium bit of kit, it’s solidly built and just over half the size of the original Jawbone which felt bulky and cheap (in fact, my own original Jawbone fell to pieces) and some of the included ear-loops are covered in what we are told is “fine leather” but to be honest there is so little of it that it’s hard to tell, but it’s a nice aesthetic touch. The device is operated by two buttons hidden beneath the plastic exterior, one to start or end calls and one to toggle the Noise Assassin function (which is automatically enabled at the beginning of every call). Unlike the original Jawbone these buttons are easy to press accidentally, a number of times I found myself disconnecting a caller because I wanted to push the headset further into my ear.

In brief, for a fiver short of £100, it’s probably not worth bothering with.

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Bonus: there is a bit of the Thames without a speed limit where the boat goes quite fast and during that time you couldn’t hear anything from me… although the Jawbone sensor may have been making contact with my cheek, who knows!

Earlier reports had suggested that Sony Ericsson would stop supplying devices to DoCoMo altogether, but Sony Ericsson has been denying this and the AFP quotes a spokesman as saying the company has no plans to ditch the Japanese market.

I’ll be interested to find out how NTT DoCoMo and Sony Ericsson will change their plans, but I can’t see the attraction in cutting ties completely – Japan might be a tough market right now, but it’s still practically the centre of the universe for mobile developments.