Shhhhh

...Just Google LG Panther

The Sopranos on 3

The 3 network (not one we're used to) has signed a deal with HBO to broadcast the excellent US based channel's TV shows on demand on their phone network. Watching TV on the phone has never been one of my particular habits, although Band of Brothers and The Sopranos are probably my two favourite TV series of all time.

this news does, however give me a chance to make an unusual (well, for this blog) picture post......

Mobile data prices down.....except they aren't

I was reviewing how much my mobile data bill would be in San Diego. I'm told that it will be £25.50 per day with 50Mb. That's about £175 for the week. Not a bargain, I think you'll agree and , what we know in the trade as a 400 % increase.

I'll be looking for a wireless hotspot for the new Samsung N220 then.

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Location, location, location

One of the things that fires my imagination at the moment is location based services. I am convinced that fuel can be saved, efficiencies achieved and congestion eased if vehicle based staff are more effective. Ha ! , I hear you Say, but route planning is easy and some of these telematics boys can do that already. My idea, however is more complex. I want our mpro3 systems to know where a field worker is and, if he is late or cannot fulfil a task, the system calculates this from his location and reallocates the task to another operative.

I had a good conversation about this today with my chum LJ and we decided that it was eminently doable.

Watch this Crimson space

Lenovo Lephone

I must admit I was confused for at least a year when the IBM ThinkPad disappeared and teh Lenovo Thinkpad arrived. Not being an IBMer meant that I didn't realise they were the same thing and that Lenovo had taken over IBMs hardware division.

Anyway, Lenovo have now released a smartphone - Android based , I am not sure of the specs, but I have to say it looks quite funky

Shares of a bigger pie

Smartphone sales rose from 35 million in the first quarter 2009, to 54 million in the first quarter 2010. I hereby declare that officially, that is a lot of phones.

Nokia continue to lead (quite how they still have 39% I do not know) followed by RIM and Apple. The IDC survey, however now takes some scruntinising as HTC and Moto are the next on the list and , safe to say , many if not most of their new sales come from Android devices.

As my friends at Microsoft say, this market continues to fly AND with many more devices in the market, this should mean that prices fall.

Now, which one shall I have next?......

Whilst I was driving .......

...through Davis, California last month little did I realise that a campus-wide trial of Gmail was in process at the University of California at Davis. 30,000 students at UC were apparently having their mail processed by Google.

I would have been less surprised that UC Davis eventually decided that running a mail system through an online information processing provider, was ....er hem....insecure

The Gmail trial has been terminated......funny that.

HTC HD2 ROM updates

Please be aware that there are various HTC HD2 Rom updates available, from HTC themselves or , operator specific ROMS from your network provider.

We suggest that you go to your network's support site first, then HTC to check for the latest ROM and don't forget to back up your data as a ROM update will "flatten" the device to factory settings.

A new Windows Mobile device from Acer

Not many new Windows Mobile devices seem to be hitting the street at the moment, mainly due to the announcement of Windows Phone 7 and the focus of OEMs on Android devices.



Acer have been to see us recently and they are rolling out the The P300 slider . Looks a bit lacking in Horsepower to me with a 528Mhz Snapdragon and a WQVGA screen

I am guessing that the price point is Acer's main hope but even then £250 - (ish) is not that cheap

All in all I'm not sure how this device will fare in this very competitive space

Nokia and Microsoft Bring You.......

.......Office Communicator Mobile for Symbian !

I have been aware for a while that Microsoft and Nokia have been collaborating on a number of things and today sees the launch of Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia handsets.

This smartphone client allows Nokia users to contact their colleagues by phone, email, IM etc using the very smart Microsoft UC client

The Communicator Client will be available on E72s and E75s in the first instance......with more to come. This will also be part of the BPOS push by Microsoft and the collaboration is obviously targeting RIM users.

Google offline Docs are, well, offline

Google have suspended support for offline Docs today......and haven't told people when working on your documents offline will be reprovisioned.

Most people I know work on their Office-style dosuments on a local machine, rather that directly online so, without going through a File..Export style process they can no longer achieve this goal.

Seems to me that Google have highlighted here why so many people stick to Microsoft Office

Best look yet at Windows phone 7

There's a new build of Windows phone 7 out (6176) and it comes closest to showing what Microsoft are bringing to market in "Holiday '10". The video is at PocketNow here

One thing I would say is that each iteration seems to deliver a little more than expected, which is good, and the look and feel is excellent