Mobile phones that NEVER need charging - future phones to run on SOUND, It’s been a while since we had any properly mental concepts on this blog, and no, the 01Phone doesn’t count, because it’s just a mobile phone, albeit a hyper-advanced concept. I mean the proper, hardcore sci-fi stuff like harnesses to control your phone with your mind, or a mobile phone that fits in a contact lens, or a whole bendy nanotech mobile phone.
Well, we go back to the world of nanotechnology today, thanks to a story on Tech Radar. And it’s a good’n, this, as it’s about mobile phones that don’t need to be plugged in and charged up. EVER. Oh, and not only does it not need charging, but this portable, handheld, electric device doesn’t need a replaceable battery either…
Hmm, no matter how awesome the Nokia N97 is, it can’t do that!
Right about now, you’re probably asking yourself how an electrical device can work without a battery to actually give it electricity. Well, like I said earlier, nanotechnology, and materials called ‘piezoelectrics’, which can be best described as ‘not as scarily complicated as they sound’. Imagine you have a Malteser (go with me on this), but when you stamp on it, instead of it falling to bits, it stays together, but produces electricity. Materials that do that, usually ceramics or crystals, are piezoelectric materials, and they’ve been known about for decades. So, why has the idea of mobile phones without batteries only popped up now?
Because scientists have found out that piezoelectrics, when they hit a very, very, very small size (no, much smaller that that), they double the amount of electricity they produce, that’s why. We’re talking reeeeeeeeeeeally small here, about 4000 times thinner than a human hair, well into the realms of nanomachines, and Star Trek, and Stargate SG1, and gawd knows how many sci-fi shows that I’ve seen over the years. And probably a few comics. And at least one novel.
Anyway, at such a small size, those nano-particle-machine-battery-things are also much more sensitive to being prodded and stressed than bigger piezoelectrics, which means they can be made to generate power with less pressure. And that means, that in the future, IF they can make it work, and IF it doesn’t as much as a manned mission to Mars, we will see mobile phones that get power from sound. You talk, your phone gets power, simple as that.
So, far from draining your battery (if you’re an incessant natterer) as they do today, mobile phones of the future will get more powerful as you talk more. It’ll be awesome, but the condition is that the boffins working on this have to make sure the piezoelectric, sound-powered nanomachines don’t take over the world, and enslave us all, which is the recognised and official destiny of all sci-fi machines. And then, their lives could be powered by the sound of them crushing their frail human victims.
Never mind Asimov’s 3 Laws, what we need for these beasties is earplugs…
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Friday
Future Phones To Run On SOUND
Saturday
Budget Phones The Future
Samsung ignoring mid-range handsets, high-end and budget phones the future :
Samsung are going to be changing their product line-up in 2009, according to TelecomTV; what’s surprising is that they’ve decided to dump the middle ground completely, and focus on making mobile phones that fall into one of two categories:
1. Super-top-end smartphones
2. Dirt-cheap phones
So, in the future, we’ll see many more mobile phones like the Samsung Pixon, the INNOV8, and the budget C300, and less phones like the mid-range U800. It’s going to be a shame to see those mid-rangers go, but it does make a certain amount of sense, when you think about it. Tight and/or skint people go for the budget mobile phones, while gadget nuts and, increasingly, general phone users, will go for something top-end like the Pixon.
In that model, there’s no room for the mid-range. They’re too expensive for the budgety types and not flashy enough for the gadgety types. So, no point making them, if no-one’s gonna buy ‘em, eh! Maybe a lesson there for Sony Ericsson, who’ve been concentrating on the mid-range for ages, and let the top-end slide (apart from the X1, of course).
Probably not a good business decision, that.
I always reckon a mobile phone manufacturer should make phones for everyone, because if they make the perfect phone for everyone, everyone will buy them. However, as it turns out, it seems that ‘everyone’ doesn’t want mid-range phones, which is why they don’t sell as well as the big top-enders, or the cheap as chips ones.
Still, it’ll be a shame to see the not-quite-smartphones disappear forever.
Will you miss the mid-range mobile phones Samsung makes? Or are you a gadget nut/budgety-type? Leave us a comment and share your views!
Friday
Future Motorola Phones
Future Motorola phones announced ahead of CES 2009
Well, it seems that Motorola have started their big comeback tour, according to their press release from yesterday. Coming up are two brand new mobile phones from the American manufacturer, which they predict will set the world alight. So, let’s have a look and see how accurate that claim is, shall we?
First up is the big daddy of the two mobile phones, the new Motorola MotoSurf A3100 which isn’t, despite what I thought when I first saw the name, the MotoSmurf. As you can see, it’s going to be another Windows Mobile phone, but this time, fully keyboard-less, lending it more of an iPhone-esque air. Or so Motorola would have us believe, anyway. Well, actually, they’re billing the MotoSurf as a true social smartphone, putting things like RSS feeds, Facebook access, and quick links to messaging and all your communication tools on the home screen, so that staying in touch is just one finger-touch away. So, kudos to Motorola for shouting about a completely new innovation in the world of mobile phones, that HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have already been doing for a while…
I cite the example of the HTC Touch HD, there…
However, that’s not to say that the Motorola MotoSurf is without merit, because it is a nice looking mobile phone, if a bit cutesy for my tastes. The trackball’s a neat addition, and with the touchscreen, it should make for a phone that’s easy to navigate round. What I don’t like, so much, is the fact that the screen’s only 2.8 inches across, and is a much lower resolution than something like the HTC Touch HD, and so, won’t look half as good. The really annoying thing, though, is that Motorola should have released a mobile phone like this 6 months ago, and should, right now, be releasing something much more spectacular.
You know, since if it gets released in the UK and America, its release date will be around a similar time to (and hence, it’s going to have to take it on) the Nokia N97, which, as a smartphone, completely mullers it…
Meanwhile, in the world of non-smart mobile phones, Motorola have something else to shout about, and this one’s a bit more impressive, since it’s said to be the word’s first ever carbon-neutral mobile phone: the Motorola Renew W223. Made from plastic recycled from old water bottles (and one site is cynically suggesting they should’ve stayed as plastic bottles…), and delivered in a box made from purely recycled paper (toilet roll tubes, anyone?), the manufacturing process is also efficient, using much lower energy, and therefore saving the baby pandas. It even hammers the point home by being painted green!
Ok, I may sneer, but the Renew could steal a much bigger market share than its big brother, the MotoSmurf… sorry, MotoSurf. Y’see, the MotoSurf’s going to have some stiff competition from mobile phones like the aforementioned Nokia 5800, but the Renew… well, if it’s going for the cheap and easy market, it only needs to be cheap and easy to compete, and you know some people will buy it just for the whole eco-save-the-baby-pandas thing. Which isn’t a bad thing, since it’s got just about zero competition for that little prize, and the only other one I can think of, off the top of my head, is the Baby Panda Phone (oh ok, the Bamboo phone) that I’m convinced will take root if you leave it in a cupboard overnight.
Basically, as long as the Renew doesn't fall to bits the first time you look at it, Motorola could be onto a winner! There’s no word, yet, on whether either of these mobile phones will even reach British shores, but if and when they do, we shall have them on site for all to see!
Sunday
Other Google Android Phones
After the T-Mobile G1 - Other Google Android Phones are on the horizon.
Well, now the T-Mobile G1 has been launched, and now we’ve seen the queues forming to grab Google Android, it’s time to take a look at what other mobile phones are going to appear with that robotically-named operating system packed into ‘em.
Motorola
Given yesterday’s post about Motorola’s plans for survival, it should come as no surprise that one of the next Google Android mobile phones is going to be a Motorola. What may sound unusual is exactly what phone we can expect, as Motorola have said it will be a ’social networking smartphone’”.
I’m at a bit of a loss to work out precisely what that means, and I don’t think I’m the only one, although it certainly sound intriguing. We’re used to seeing smartphones, and we’re used to seeing mobile phones with things like direct access to Facebook on them. Hell, we’re used to seeing smartphones with things like that, too. So, what I’m at a bit of a loss to figure out is exactly what more they’ve added on to make this a dedicated ’social networking smartphone’.
Although rumoured specs from the Boy Genius Report include a 3.5 inch screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, theoretically putting it in high-end smartphone territory, if I’m honest, the words ‘Sidekick Slide’ are treacherously sliding towards my lips, here…
Samsung/LG
So, Motorola are all set to get into the Android game, but who else’ s mobile phones can we expect to see? Well, persistent rumours keep popping up now and again that the two Korean giants, Samsung and LG, are going to be making mobile phones built on Android. However, those rumours are unproven, so until we get firm confirmation from either of the manufacturers, I reckon it’s safe to assume those mobile phones are ‘fictional until proven otherwise’.
Of the big names, it seems only Motorola and HTC are definitely confirmed to be making future Google Android phones.
Hop-on/OpenMoko
No, I’d never heard of them till recently, either. Hop-on’s most well-known product (aside from their cloned mobile phones, one of which looks virtually identical to the Nokia 5310) seems to be that $10 disposable mobile phone over there, to the right, look:-
However, Hop-on now say they plan to storm into the top-end mobile phone market, with their first Google Android phone, due at some point next year. No word on what it’ll be like, or even whether it will happen at all, but Hop-on say it will come in at under $200 (roughly £123) when it’s released, making it the cheapest Google Android phone.
Meanwhile another name that’s hugely unknown in the UK, OpenMoko is alleged to be heading towards building Google Android phones, which does ring true, since their current mobile phones run on Linux, and Android is made essentially from, you guessed it, Linux.
Asus
The last name on the list might be surprising to some, but not to anyone who’s seen any of Asus’s previous mobile phones. Although it’s unlikely you will have done, since they sold them in Asia, not the UK. The name, over here, is far more familiar from their range of netbook-style EeePCs… or, as I tend to call it the EeeeeeeeeeeeeeebygumPC. Well, it’s rumoured their range of mobile phones is going to expand, to include Android. It’s also rumoured that they’ll share a branding with the EeePC.
What, the EeePhone’s on its way, then? Eee1, maybe?
Ooh, no, ePhone, that’d work!
So there we have the state of what we know so far. Other than HTC (responsible for the T-Mobile G1) and Motorola, it seems the list of people officially developing Google Android phones is limited to not very famous names, who’ve realised that you can use Android for free. So, where are the Nokias, where are the Sony Ericssons?
Well, I’ve said it many times before, and I just need to end this post with two words to answer that question:
Symbian and Foundation…
The first ever Google Android phone is available! Grab yourself the T-Mobile G1 today!
Nokia 1208
Thinnest qwerty mobile phone
Mobile phone radiation new device
Walking around world with google earth
Saturday
Symbian And Windows Mobile Phones
Symbian and Windows Mobile phones get Google Street View, There’s an application that’s become a firm favourite of oh so many people, whether they’re using it on their PCs or on their mobile phones: Google Maps, that awesome mapping program, that lets you get directions, find just about anything on the map, and even see aerial views of what you’re looking at. On some mobile phones, though, it goes further, by giving you Street View, where you can actually get down to street level, and look around in full 360 degree vision, seeing the street as you’d see it at eye level. The iPhone, the T-Mobile G1, Blackberrys… they’re the ones you needed to buy to get Google Street View.
Except they’re not the only mobile phones it’s available on now, according to Engadget Mobile, because now, Street View is available for Symbian (presumably Series 60) and Windows Mobile phones.
Since I’ve more or less decided I’m having an X1 Xperia (yes, I’m calling it that now, I’ve decided that name just rolls off the tongue so nicely, and will, hopefully, make me sound more exciting than I really am), that’s rather good news, that! You may ask why they’ve now decided to roll it out onto other mobile phones besides those, but the answers a dead simple one. Those mobile phones up there in the first paragraph… they be massive big’ns in America. But with Street View rolling out in places like France, Spain, Italy and, yes, the UK, it makes a huge amount of sense to roll out Street View to the big smartphone systems over here.
And that means Symbian and Windows Mobile. So, rest assured, if you have the X1 Xperia (and I plan to join you in the not too distant future), you’ll be able to zoom in and see where you are at street level. But… I’ll tell you what’ll be really cool. If you’ve ever seen Street View used on the T-Mobile G1, you’ll know that because the G1’s got a compass built in, you can pan round the view of the street you’re looking at just by turning round with the phone. The Nokia N97, due out next year, also has a compass built in. So, if you go for that upcoming Symbian monster, it’s entirely possible (although not confirmed yet), that you’ll get the exact same feature!
Now, if only they’d care to release Google Earth for something other than the chuffin’ iPhone, I’ll be a happy bunny
Nokia mobile phones Games and Movies
Nokia mobile phones Games and Movies, Well, Nokia’s Comes With Music service is out there in the wild, and although it’s not been available long, Nokia are already on the hunt for their next all-you-can-eat content buffet type thing to stick in their mobile phones, using the same ‘Comes With’ model, according to Engadget Mobile. Nothing’s been decided (or even properly researched and worked out, it sounds like) yet, but it seems likely that if Nokia want more downloadable stuff for their mobile phones, they’ll turn to the separate worlds of movies and games.
In the future, we could well see Nokia Comes With Movies mobile phones, as well as Comes With Games handsets.
Nokia are being understandably reticent to give away any details (in case somebody nicks their idea first), but given that worldwide games giant Electronic Arts have said they’d actively support any new innovation that mobile phone manufacturers come up with to get their games out to punters. Although, knowing EA, it’ll be packed to the gills with more DRM than any software ever seen, in history (Spore, anyone?)…
However, having said that, the idea of a mobile phone, something like a Nokia N96, that you can download loads of games and movies for nothing should be rather appealing, if you’re into that kind of thing. And if you’re wondering why I picked the Nokia N96, remember that it’s got a TV-Out connector, so you can plug it into a telly, and basically have a portable cinema and games console.
The fact it’s got 16Gb memory doesn’t hurt either, and let’s be honest, what with it having BBC iPlayer already, and WiFi, it’s a natural fit…
So, are we going to see Nokia ‘Comes With Other Stuff Besides Music’ mobile phones soon? Well, since it took them nearly a year to sort out the licensing for Comes With Music, I can’t see it happening for maaaaaany months. If and when it does, though, it’s got the potential to be a right cracker!
