Mobile Phones News Blog

Google recently released a video of “Project Glass”, its concept of an augmented reality system, triggering a wave of posts asking “Wow, can they really do that?”. Followed by a tsunami of shouting “Not even nearly”. It is an excellent piece of science-fiction, but in terms of launchable products they might as well have played a clip of Star Trek.

Augmented Reality is the idea of improving the real world by filling it with pretend items. This is a very good idea, and one we’re already putting into practice (whose life hasn’t been improved by Harry Potter, Mario, or movies with the carefully constructed artificial shell built around Tom Cruise?). But since these figures can only live in pages or on screens, the next step is to stick a screen over our eyes to have them appear everywhere.

The Project Glass demo shows off a few of the first-draft applications of such a system: easy access to maps, videochat with far-away people, the ability to check your e-mail while walking down the street until you comically fall into roadworks and die (they cut away before that bit). The slim and stylish camera frames Google’s engineers have  used aren’t as bulky as most heads-up display (HUD) units, for the simple reason that they aren’t a heads-up display unit.

The tiny nub in the corner of those lenses could just about show you a power light, not an entire alternate reality. Miniaturized projection systems, transparent glass displays, holography, none of the system even remotely capable of doing what the video claims it can. Which makes it weird. Google has a habit of turning up with almost-completed items we didn’t even know we wanted yet, so it’s strange to see it waving vague promises of “That cool thing, sure, we’ll have that”.

Despite featuring more Google fantasy than a fifteen year-old’s browser history, Project Glass is still brilliant. Because it’s saying that there’s no reason for smartphones to still look like phones. In remote regions, a communications device might still be a specialist tool, but in the world of always-on communications people are more aware of their online status than their heart rate. Handheld tools are things you use often but not always, like forks or screwdrivers. Phones are always on and taken everywhere and, like clothes, we consider going outside without them kind of crazy. So we should be wearing phones as well.

Wristphones have never taken off, despite the James Bond retro coolness, and phone pendants have always been more about style than easy use. Glasses might not be the best choice, but at least they get rid of the “clunky little box you hold” idea. And glasses have always been associated with being smart. What will be interesting is when Apple decides to shift the shape of a phone. Which it will eventually, because it needs to make some kind of change to sell a new model every year (and when Camp Cupertino does it, the rest will follow. Because even if people reject the idea of a phone gaining four eyes, Apple could release an impenetrable iBlindfold and it would still sell a million units.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is set to launch an Android-based spy phone that will compete with other manufacturers offering highly secure communication devices, company officials have said.

The aerospace and defence industry giant is moving into the mobile communication arena with the aim of cornering the defence and intelligence sectors. The phone is set to be much cheaper than current options, although it is expected to still cost a few pennies more than an HTC Wildfire.

The Boeing Phone will employ high levels of encryption in order to avoid any third parties listening in on private conversations, a feature that is likely to make the handset popular with both high-level security professionals and celebrities fearful of eavesdropping tabloid journalists.

Boeing’s creation is expected to appear at some point this year and the handset will have all the usual Android refinements. It has not been confirmed whether or not the device will feature Angry Birds Space out of the box however.

Most companies know exactly what they offer, and to whom, and this is often reflected in the choice of name they go with. Others however, opt for more obtuse titles for their businesses and products in a bid to make them sound cutting-edge. Here are some of the more obvious offenders.

Siri

It was recently revealed that Apple figurehead, the late Steve Jobs, wasn’t too happy with the name given to the personal assistance software which he acquired for launch with the iPhone 4S. Siri was the name given to the program by co-creator Dag Kittlaus, a name that he also wished to call his daughter.

In his native Norwegian, Siri means “beautiful woman who leads you to victory” – though her English male counterpart was previously more likely to tell viewers, through a voiceover on a UK gameshow, who was the Weakest Link!

Apple

There are many theories as to how Jobs’ company got its name, though an explanation given by Owen Linzmayer in his book, Apple Confidential seems to hold the most water.

Alongside Jobs’ happy memories of working on an apple farm in his youth, the company’s formation in 1976 meant that the main rivals in the computer industry were Atari – itself a form of the Japanese verb for “to hit the target” – who was enjoying great success thanks to its home and arcade game systems. The name Apple was eventually chosen simply because it came before Atari in the phone book!

Google

Imagine if instead of Googling something, you had to BackRub it. If the original name for the project co-founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page had stuck, that’s what millions of people around the world would be doing every second instead. As it was, their search engine needed a name that suggested just how vast the internet was becoming, as a googol is written as a one followed by a hundred zeros.

When the company was founded in 1998, their first investor misspelled “googol”, and the rest is history. Even if the newly-incorporated company had been spelled correctly, they would’ve had to negotiate with someone listed as Mrs. Jello for the rights to the domain name, which she has held since 1995.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has reportedly stated in an interview that he believes dual and quad-core processors are simply a waste of battery life and the performance benefits they bring are questionable.

Elop is quoted as saying that “the so-called dual-core, quad-core mobile phones can only waste batteries, but not be useful for consumers all the time” in an interview with the Chinese newspaper Yangcheng Evening News.

The Finnish manufacturer has gone to great lengths to extol the virtues of the single-core processors which inhabit their Lumia range of smartphones, with high profile competitions such as the ‘Smoked by Windows Phone’  challenge which aimed to inform consumers that more cores does not necessarily equal a faster phone (although this plan has backfired on occasion).

This is not the first time that Elop has gone on record in opposition to the multi core ethos. In January he stated that quad-core phones were only useful to “keep your hands warm in your pocket”.

With the mobile world moving en masse to multi core processors, it will be interesting to see whether Nokia stand firm on single core or capitulate to the desires of the smartphone-buying public in the future.

Apple has begun internal seeding of the next iteration of the iTunes platform and the application will have iOS 6 and improved iCloud integration, according to sources.

The rumour, reported by 9to5Mac, speculates that iTunes 11 will be built as an iOS 6 compatible release and will have increased iCloud integration, with suggestions being made that a dedicated iCloud settings panel will also be included.

A beta version is said to currently be being tested is reported to be focused on under-the-hood changes, however, Apple tends to concentrate on different elements of design at separate stages of development, so a UI refresh could come at a later point.

Apple typically releases new versions of iTunes alongside major new operating systems and mobile devices. With the release of the iPhone 5 widely expected to be announced at some point this year it seems feasible that the launch could also include the iTunes 11 update.

Microsoft is rumoured to be bringing its motion and voice-based Kinect controller to Windows Phone 8, according to sources close to the company.

A report from VR-Zone suggests that the software giant is looking to integrate the Kinect Natural User Interface (NUI) into its upcoming mobile platform refresh.

The technology is said to be still in the early stages of development, however, an increasing number of resources are being concentrated on the project in order to ensure its readiness for the Windows Phone 8 launch.

According to one source, the biggest challenge facing the research and development department at Microsoft so far has been the lack of room for Kinect cameras on smartphones.

While there has been no official word from Microsoft on the claims, the integration of motion-based control on a smartphone would undoubtedly heighten the popularity of the Windows Phone platform amongst the gaming fraternity.

OMGPOP’s Draw Something is already a phenomenon, and an early contender for 2012′s most popular mobile game. According to the developers, Draw Something has been downloaded 50 million times in the 50 days it has been available, a figure which drew the attention of social gaming giant Zynga, who purchased OMGPOP for between $100 million and $200 million earlier this month.

Describing what Draw Something is all about is easy – it’s like Pictionary, but on your phone. However, describing what makes it so popular, that’s another thing entirely. Before we get into it, here’s what to expect if you’re considering downloading the game.

It’s available as an ad-supported free app or as a £0.69 app without adverts, and the pay version comes with a virtual bucket of 400 coins to be used in the game. It’s cross-platform too, and can be downloaded for the iPhone – where it’s universal – and Android, and you’ll be pitted against each other regardless of the device you’re playing on.

Before playing though, you’ll need to either signup using an email address, or connect to your Facebook profile. If you choose the latter option, any of your friends already playing Draw Something will be added to your app, and you’ll be able to challenge them whenever you like.

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There are two other options for finding someone to play against if your Facebook pals haven’t been bitten by the bug: By searching for players using a username, or by hitting the ‘Random’ button.

Going for a random partner provides a good introduction to how the game works. You’re given the choice of three words, each rated ‘Easy’, ‘Medium’ or ‘Hard’, and after selecting one, you must draw it on screen. Your partner then guesses what it is based on your scribble and if they’re successful, the roles are reversed and you must guess their drawing.

The drawing isn’t the only clue you’re given though, as you enter the answer using letters provided to you by the game, and although some are superfluous, anyone good at anagrams should be able to work out the word quite quickly. In-game ‘bombs’ can be used to remove some of those superfluous letters, and also to change the initial selection of words to choose from too.

Depending on the difficulty of the word you chose to draw, between one and three coins are awarded for a correct guess, and these coins can be used to purchase additional colours with which to draw, or more bombs. While not essential, adding more colours to the standard palette of black, yellow and red does give you more freedom, and allow you to draw more detailed pictures.

Naturally, this being a ‘social’ game, you don’t have to wait to earn the hundreds of coins needed to unlock these features, as there is a wide variety of in-app purchases ready to fulfil your needs much more quickly.

Strangely, that’s all there is to it. The game stops when one of you quits, and on the surface, there’s no other reason to play aside from the acquisition of coins; it really is the least competitive game you’ll ever play.

But social games aren’t about leaderboards, high scores or reaching a previously unobtainable level –  they’re about having fun with your mates, and this is both Draw Something‘s attraction and its downfall.

If your close circle of friends all play Draw Something, it’s great fun. Because there aren’t any rules, you can make up your own – only choose the hard three-coin words for example – and have a good laugh about the creations a less artistic pal has scribbled down. Draw Something is more social than games such as Farmville because you can have a conversation about it without feeling stupid – and that conversation will be funny.

On the flipside, if you’re forced to play against random players all the time, the experience is very different. For a start, the no rules situation means that sometimes, the answer will be scribbled down alongside a drawing, defeating the object of playing. Then there’s the time you spend drawing something, only for your partner to just drop out without even a single guess. It’s not only frustrating, but pretty rude too.

One must assume that these people are trying to amass plenty of coins, and don’t want to spend time figuring out what you’ve drawn. Sadly, this misses the point of the game entirely, as the coins are completely incidental, and Draw Something is all about fun.

If you’re unlucky enough to have to rely on strangers to play Draw Something, playing it will be a mixed bag, as sometimes you’ll find a great partner, but most of the time you’ll be left wondering what the fuss is about.

But, if your friends are all up for a game, it’s the polar opposite, as your spare time will quickly disappear as you shakily try to draw a Gorilla or a Skydiver in one window, and guess what a red and yellow blob is supposed to be in another.

It’s still early days for Draw Something and with the recent injection of Zynga cash, we can expect some interesting updates in the future. With luck, these will address the rules issue along with a few bugs (the notifications almost never worked for me) and add some new options, such as the ability to add friends from Twitter and remember players you’ve met before.

As OMGPOP has thoughtfully provided a free version of the app, there’s no reason not to give Draw Something a try, as it really is a quirky, amusing and quite addictive game – in the right circumstances. However, don’t expect to fall instantly in love with it if you don’t know any other players.

OMGPOP’s Draw Something is already a phenomenon, and an early contender for 2012′s most popular mobile game. According to the developers, Draw Something has been downloaded 50 million times in the 50 days it has been available, a figure which drew the attention of social gaming giant Zynga, who purchased OMGPOP for between $100 million and $200 million earlier this month.

Describing what Draw Something is all about is easy – it’s like Pictionary, but on your phone. However, describing what makes it so popular, that’s another thing entirely. Before we get into it, here’s what to expect if you’re considering downloading the game.

It’s available as an ad-supported free app or as a £0.69 app without adverts, and the pay version comes with a virtual bucket of 400 coins to be used in the game. It’s cross-platform too, and can be downloaded for the iPhone – where it’s universal – and Android, and you’ll be pitted against each other regardless of the device you’re playing on.

Before playing though, you’ll need to either signup using an email address, or connect to your Facebook profile. If you choose the latter option, any of your friends already playing Draw Something will be added to your app, and you’ll be able to challenge them whenever you like.

�

There are two other options for finding someone to play against if your Facebook pals haven’t been bitten by the bug: By searching for players using a username, or by hitting the ‘Random’ button.

Going for a random partner provides a good introduction to how the game works. You’re given the choice of three words, each rated ‘Easy’, ‘Medium’ or ‘Hard’, and after selecting one, you must draw it on screen. Your partner then guesses what it is based on your scribble and if they’re successful, the roles are reversed and you must guess their drawing.

The drawing isn’t the only clue you’re given though, as you enter the answer using letters provided to you by the game, and although some are superfluous, anyone good at anagrams should be able to work out the word quite quickly. In-game ‘bombs’ can be used to remove some of those superfluous letters, and also to change the initial selection of words to choose from too.

Depending on the difficulty of the word you chose to draw, between one and three coins are awarded for a correct guess, and these coins can be used to purchase additional colours with which to draw, or more bombs. While not essential, adding more colours to the standard palette of black, yellow and red does give you more freedom, and allow you to draw more detailed pictures.

Naturally, this being a ‘social’ game, you don’t have to wait to earn the hundreds of coins needed to unlock these features, as there is a wide variety of in-app purchases ready to fulfil your needs much more quickly.

Strangely, that’s all there is to it. The game stops when one of you quits, and on the surface, there’s no other reason to play aside from the acquisition of coins; it really is the least competitive game you’ll ever play.

But social games aren’t about leaderboards, high scores or reaching a previously unobtainable level –  they’re about having fun with your mates, and this is both Draw Something‘s attraction and its downfall.

If your close circle of friends all play Draw Something, it’s great fun. Because there aren’t any rules, you can make up your own – only choose the hard three-coin words for example – and have a good laugh about the creations a less artistic pal has scribbled down. Draw Something is more social than games such as Farmville because you can have a conversation about it without feeling stupid – and that conversation will be funny.

On the flipside, if you’re forced to play against random players all the time, the experience is very different. For a start, the no rules situation means that sometimes, the answer will be scribbled down alongside a drawing, defeating the object of playing. Then there’s the time you spend drawing something, only for your partner to just drop out without even a single guess. It’s not only frustrating, but pretty rude too.

One must assume that these people are trying to amass plenty of coins, and don’t want to spend time figuring out what you’ve drawn. Sadly, this misses the point of the game entirely, as the coins are completely incidental, and Draw Something is all about fun.

If you’re unlucky enough to have to rely on strangers to play Draw Something, playing it will be a mixed bag, as sometimes you’ll find a great partner, but most of the time you’ll be left wondering what the fuss is about.

But, if your friends are all up for a game, it’s the polar opposite, as your spare time will quickly disappear as you shakily try to draw a Gorilla or a Skydiver in one window, and guess what a red and yellow blob is supposed to be in another.

It’s still early days for Draw Something and with the recent injection of Zynga cash, we can expect some interesting updates in the future. With luck, these will address the rules issue along with a few bugs (the notifications almost never worked for me) and add some new options, such as the ability to add friends from Twitter and remember players you’ve met before.

As OMGPOP has thoughtfully provided a free version of the app, there’s no reason not to give Draw Something a try, as it really is a quirky, amusing and quite addictive game – in the right circumstances. However, don’t expect to fall instantly in love with it if you don’t know any other players.

LG is reportedly working on a new flagship handset said to rival high-end smartphones such as Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy SIII.

According to Digital Daily the device, codenamed D1L, is to be equipped with a 4.7-inch display operating at a 1280 x 720-pixel resolution, as well as a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz processor.

Sources also suggest that the phone will have full 4G LTE capability and will run Android Ice Cream Sandwich upon launch.

Although the handset is being pitched as a flagship smartphone for the Korean firm, the spec is somewhat similar to the Optimus 4X HD that currently sits at the top of the LG range and which it is assumed would have been surpassed by similarly positioned devices from rival manufacturers by the time the D1L is launched.

An LG official has gone on record confirming that the company is “developing a phone with a project name D1L”, however, no further details were confirmed or denied in the statement. Release for the D1L is expected to be in May 2012.

Yesterday, Facebook released some of the most surprising news of the year so far, that the social network has purchased Instagram for $1 billion, or nearly £630 million. This comes just a few days after the app was released for Android, after being an iOS exclusive since its release.

It’s also a few months after the photo startup was valued at $500 million, indicating Facebook was very, very keen to snap up the popular app. The money paid is a combination of cash and shares in Facebook, and the deal is expected to close by the end of June.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote about the acquisition on his Timeline, saying the site has ‘focused on building the best experience for sharing photos’ and that Instagram‘s strengths as a mobile photo sharing app will compliment its efforts well.

Facebook will learn from Instagram‘s success as a mobile photo app, and will provide engineering and infrastructure support to them in return. Zuckerberg sums the merger up by saying as Facebook already offers ‘the best photo sharing experience … we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.’

Those concerned that Instagram will be radically changing, or worse being swallowed up by Facebook, should find some solace in CEO Kevin Systrom’s words. He wrote on his official blog that the ‘Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love’ but they will be ‘working with Facebook to evolve and build the network.’

One possible reason for Facebook purchasing Instagram has been offered by Gigaom.com’s Om Malik, who said for the first time in its life, Facebook recognized it had a competitor that could ‘not only eat its lunch, but also destroy its future.’ However, it was a problem that could clearly be solved with a very, very big cheque.

There’s sure to be some fallout though, as Instagram‘s move to Android upset enough people, and Facebook can command just as much hatred; so expect to see a few users moving on to one of the alternative photo-sharing apps in the near future.

Everyone else can look forward to seeing Instagram even more tightly integrated into your Facebook timeline, plus, either an updated Facebook app or potentially, an entirely new dedicated photo app from the social network.