Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’

Jonathan Jensen on Thursday – some thoughts around .tel and mobile users

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had several conversations with people about .tel domains and how .tel creates a simple, single place to store and share your contact data. .tel is a new top level domain that allows users to publish their contact data directly to the web, in the DNS, so it’s easily available from any internet connected device in a simple, easily accessible, consistent format, without the need for a website. As the data is not stored on a hosted website there’s no HTML to slow down or screw up the display of the data and of course no need to organise hosting, which simplifies the whole experience for Normobs. .tel is about communications, not web content. For me, it’s my interactive business card!

So what does .tel mean for mobile users? .tel is a mobile optimised contact directory. Mobile apps will allow the data to be accessed without having to open a web browser. When you’re mobile you can check the current contact data for a .tel user at any time, from your handset. As this data can be managed via profiles, you will only see the current, and therefore relevant, contact data for the user at that point of time. So at the weekend or in the evenings you could see ‘home’ contact data and during the day, business contact data. You might also see a different, more limited, profile when someone is travelling. Plus of course you can click on a phone number in the .tel profile to call the person.

Most of us have many different modes of contact – landline numbers, mobile numbers, VoIP, IM, Twitter, plus other information we want to direct people to, like our blogs and websites. Trying to second guess the best method of contact for both parties is impossible so .tel puts it all in one place and gives the other party choice of contact method, within your chosen parameters. Privacy functionality allows you to make certain contact methods only available to specific individuals or groups of people. I find my preferred phone numbers and other methods of contact change fairly frequently, particularly as I’m always keen to take advantage of new deals and services. Advising contacts of new numbers and ID’s is a pain so it’s much simpler to point people to a .tel where my preferred numbers and ID’s are always current.

I believe the true value of .tel will start to become apparent once the developer community starts releasing applications that use .tel data. There are already applications like the BlackBerry and iPhone apps that simplify the .tel lookup and data management processes from your mobile device.

If you want to try out a .tel domain for yourself you can sign up for a free temporary name here. .tel domains will be available for purchase at a premium price from 3 February and via general availability from 24 March. I guess most people will wait for general availability when .tel domain pricing will be similar to the usual domain pricing. At that level it’s a small price to pay to have your current contact data always up to date and easily available.

Have a look at my beta .tel at http://jonathanjensen.vip.tel

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

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Posted in Jonathan Jensen, Mobile Applications | Comments

LGPradaWatch: final thoughts on a most unusual press conference

Friday, November 21st, 2008

We got to spend some time with LG and Prada, on the arrival of their new handset the LG Prada.

The press conference was an unusual one for us which threw us a bit, as there were no presentations, no speeches, no agenda, all very very unusual. It came off much like a round table debate than anything else, as for one we were all just sitting around on chairs in a hotel suite.

The two key people were introduced, Chang Ma the vice president of marketing strategy at LG’s mobile communications division and Matteo Sessa Vitali, the licensing director at Prada. Both of which represented their respective companies and could speak knowledgeably on their behalf.

We all expected for them to talk about the phone, its features, its abilities, what it can do, how it differs from the last handset, etc. Instead they just dove straight into the Q&A. All very strange and we weren’t sure what to do, apart from just go with the flow.

There are two ways to approach and act in a Q&A; either to ask all your questions or keep them until the end and get some face time or a briefing with the people there. There’s always a worry if you blurt out your questions, others can make note of the answers and you’ll lose your exclusivity over the points you raised.

Some of the more respectful titles out there will credit you if they use your question and answers. Therefore still giving you somewhat of a thanks which can also be found on the article is properly SEO’d. Most won’t though and therefore you hold your questions until later, when you can ask them in the privacy of a closed session. There were no one to one meetings, or scheduled private briefings after the Q&A.

As this hack has been burnt so many times, I just sat back and let the enjoyment begin on what will be the most unusual press briefing attended in a long long while.

Questions were answered and asked from the likes of CNET, TrustedReviews and Pocket-Lint with responses from the guys at LG and Prada. Often discussions opened up between journalists, which all seemed to bemuse the hosts as to why these were going on.

Points were made, journalists counter them amongst themselves, the hosts weren’t always sure whether to chip in or not. All in all it was confusing, bemusing and a tad unorthodox.

Not a great deal of information was passed along at the event, nothing really on the handset just all about the deal between them both and that’s that. Anything we really wanted to ask but were too afraid to was all left to us and our own deft investigations for later.

But we’re happy to have these little odd meetings, as it just makes life a lot more interesting.

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Posted in Mobile | Comments

Jonathan Jensen on Thursday – Mobile phone, converged device or communications device?

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Mobile phones are at the heart of the convergence of communications with multimedia applications like photos, music, GPS and gaming. Increasingly, consumers are buying devices that support multimedia creation and consumption, however many of these devices still seem to be compromises that don’t deliver outstanding functionality across all applications. They do some tasks very well but others less well. They also tend to be bulky devices with a chunky form factor.

When I bought my last handset I took the view that what I actually wanted was a communications device. I wanted to be able to make calls, text, email, and access social networking services easily and seamlessly. Anything else would be useful - but a device that did the comms piece well was essential. I went for the Nokia E51, despite it not being available on a consumer tariff, because it’s designed for communication. It gives me:

  • 3G/GSM voice - Speaks for itself, obviously, and on my handset is ably supported by SpinVox for voice message delivery by SMS.
  • WiFi & VoIP - DeFi and Truphone are essential to me for cost effective and quality mobile coverage at home as well as in WiFi hotspots elsewhere. DeFi also gives me a London number on my mobile so people can call me at lower rates.
  • SMS - SMS has been a key communication method for me ever since I started sending messages via foreign operator SMSC’s back in 1994 to get around the lack of operator interconnection in the UK at the time.
  • Email - The Nokia Email service delivers copies of my messages to the handset home screen for easy reference.
  • Web access - The principle communication requirement here is Twitter. A flat rate data tariff is essential to provide certainty of expenditure.
  • Nokia E Series ‘Active standby’ mode - Displays essential information on the home screen, for example both my SMS and my email inboxes are displayed concurrently.
  • Excellent form factor - The E51 is a very slim handset that slips comfortably into a shirt pocket, unlike the bigger N and E Series devices.
  • Great keypad - Proper keys in the right places!

So what about the stuff that’s missing from the E51?

  • High-end camera - I don’t need a mobile camera for capturing high quality images. I use the E51 camera for snapping photos of stuff I need to remember and sending a copy to Evernote via Shozu. When I want high quality images I use a pocket size Nikon that has done the job well for several years now.
  • GPS - I’ve tried satnav via Nokia handsets using Google Maps or Nokia Maps and they don’t come close to my TomTom. The TomTom has a screen you can actually read in the car (surprisingly useful!), simple setup via the touch screen and can be used by others in the family.
  • Music - I don’t listen to a great of music but the E51 player is fine when I need it, although for sheer style you still can’t beat an iPod!

I suspect my next device will have a decent camera and GPS, if only because these will increasingly be standard features in quality handsets, but for now my E51 does the job!

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Jonathan’s also at Sevendotzero.

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Posted in Jonathan Jensen, Mobile, VOIP | Comments

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