At a small (but select) gathering tonight INQ – the makers of the ’social’ handset the INQ1 – that grew out of the operator Three announced ‘Update 1′, an over-the-air refresh of the INQ1’s application suite which makes a number of improvements and feature-additions. These improve Windows Live Messenger performance, give better general stability, pre-cache Facebook photos for performance and improve the battery life (the improvement is described as ’significant’ – up to 50% longer depending on use). Users will be prompted to update the software in 4 to 6 weeks. INQ’s marketing director Jeff Taylor commented that INQ expected to provide further updates in the future and that, where possible, new features would be distributed to all INQ devices as additional handsets were added to the range.
At the event, the team also announced the INQ1 had been short-listed as one of five devices in the GSMA Global Mobile Awards ‘Best Handset / Device‘ category to be announced at Mobile World Congress in a fortnight and the launch of a media and blogger-relations programme ‘INQ+’ intended to provide a forum for feedback and beta testing of forthcoming software / devices.
Just an update on the content from the MIR Developer’s event last week. The videos of each attending company will be published this week — the first one is due to go live later today. Standby!
I had a quick catch up with Geraldine Wilson, CEO at Truphone, this morning to see what their plans are over the next few months. Now that Truphone supports multiple handset software platforms a lot of work is going into making the user experience and functionality as consistent as possible across all handsets. This is a challenge because the different platforms provide varying degrees of access. Geraldine also assured me that Nokia S60 users have not been forgotten and we will be seeing more from Truphone here in the future. Truphone is very keen to use the handset app stores as a key route to market and the lack of a proper Nokia app store is a frustration for Truphone, as much as it is for us loyal S60 users.
Work is also progressing on tariffs, and flat rate tariffs will be launched within a couple of months to give users a choice of either per call pricing or fixed monthly charges. Truphone users who have multiple devices have found it frustrating to have to manage separate accounts for each device. This will be fixed shortly, allowing a single Truphone account to support multiple handsets. As one of Voxbone’s iNum partners, Truphone is looking at how best to exploit the potential of iNum to support its aim of delivering products for customers with an international lifestyle. Expect to see more on this shortly.
If you’re a 5800 owner who’s just woken up to a brand new day, sipping onto some steaming hot beverage or browsing through your RSS feeds, hear this one. The folks over at Nokia have dropped an update to the Firmware of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.
The update bumps up your phone to Firmware v11.0.008 from the previous Firmware v10.0.010 and brings in overall stability of the phone’s OS. The update should be available through the Nokia Software Updater, but I’ve come across a couple of people who’re reporting no activity at their end. So if you’re lucky enough for the update to show up at your desktop, remember to back up your data before proceeding.
A complete list of changes, courtesy of S60Inside.com:
Homepage is not defined for Vodafone Live!
Last word disappears when selecting receiver in SMS
My Nokia: phone displays “#” in front of Application name.
During Back-Up & Restore operation, calendar entries are not restored
Operator menu link within Welcome application
Invalid message pops up before playing the file received via Bluetooth.
Input Method, VKB just display number when selecting a WLAN access point which contains a password.
Chinese box HWR control buttons and FS HWR control bar are too small.
Unable to add image to Contact bar from Gallery when there is about 5 GB of data in memory card
In Arabic UI, in calendar, the arrows on the top are reversed in week view and day view
UI-rotation is too sensitive
Search: Google search service is missing in Search.
Contact could not display when switch numbers in Singtel 2-in-1 SIM card
Maps: Wrong layout of the strings in the Maps search and favorites views
Could not send new email if user name and password is not pre-defined
Phone drops from service when both A5/3 +GEA3 used simultaneously with WLAN
The Messaging application crashes a lot specially when replying or trying to send SMS you have to remove battery to be able to use the device again
License Manager for Maps is not integrated to SW
5.0 Touch: Phonebook crashing when adding detail: Birthday, Anniversary
Web screen is messed up
Non stop Music Player “Library update”
Clock, Alarm is inactive when phone is power off.
APN Configuration Settings Update to be used for the Setting Wizard
Ex-Factory settings are wrong
UE unable to open Setting Wizard
StartUpSettings version updated.
Phone lost correct time during power off
USSD – “Call Control Send USSD” command
UE drops from 3G, then cannot sync to 3G cells
Browser: Flash objects causes problems while browsing
The internal speaker on my INQ1 failed so I couldn’t hear the other party without switching to the external speaker. I phoned 3 and was pleasantly surprised how quickly they agreed it was a hardware failure and would have to go back to them.
I phoned them on Friday, received a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery returns envelope on Tuesday, posted the handset on Wednesday and received a brand new handset by Royal Mail Special Delivery on Saturday.
Well, my INQ1 has now died. The internal speaker doesn’t work – to hear the other party you have to switch to the loudspeaker. 3 are sending me a returns pack and promise to turn it around in three days. We’ll see …
Coming after the variable performance of the INQ1’s applications this hardware failure has confirmed my view of the INQ1 as a disappointing mobile device.
As per comments in the recent Twitter Debate post, as of today we’re separating the site from the man (me) on our Twitter feed.
Most of the followers on our @MIReview Twitter feed do so because they want updates from Mobile Industry Review. Specifically, updates whenever we post an article.
You don’t need to know my shoe size or whether I’m having a good day.
If you do, you can now get that on my personal Twitter account, @ew4n. Go ahead and follow me, I’ll follow you back (provided you continue to meet the relevant context requirements discussed in this post!).
The MIR iPhone application is cominatcha shortly. Our developer, Pavel, has submitted it to the App Store and we’re waiting to hear when it will go live.
At a small (but select) gathering tonight INQ – the makers of the ’social’ handset the INQ1 – that grew out of the operator Three announced ‘Update 1′, an over-the-air refresh of the INQ1’s application suite which makes a number of improvements and feature-additions. These improve Windows Live Messenger performance, give better general stability, pre-cache Facebook photos for performance and improve the battery life (the improvement is described as ’significant’ – up to 50% longer depending on use). Users will be prompted to update the software in 4 to 6 weeks. INQ’s marketing director Jeff Taylor commented that INQ expected to provide further updates in the future and that, where possible, new features would be distributed to all INQ devices as additional handsets were added to the range.
