Mobile Phones Blog

3 Mobile have just released a new black edition of their INQ1 social networking slider handset on contract and PAYG in the UK.

The INQ1 - pronounced ‘ink one’ - is the first handset offering from 3 Mobile’s in house mobile manufacturer INQ, and is a streamlined, cost-effective mobile solution aimed at social networking addicts who want to keep on top of every update, bulletin, status change and photo tag on their friend’s list.

Unfortunately, the only image currently available is this tiny one from the 3 Mobile site, so we’ve included a bigger pic of the standard silver INQ1 for comparison.

Free on contracts from as little as £15, or £80 on PAYG, the INQ1 is also a bargain for those who want to access their profiles on the go, but don’t want to have to sign up for a lengthy or expensive contract; all of the 3 Mobile contracts for the INQ1 come with unlimited access to Facebook, unlimited texts, and 1GB of internet browsing.

The INQ1 is also easy to use - it doesn’t require to you read a handbook the size of a telephone directory to use. You simply select the application you want using the tool bar at the top of the screen, press the central menu key and away you go. Myspace and Bebo fans can also easily install shortcuts to their preferred networks, and access the sites in the same way.

Most people wouldn’t think that their mobile phone could ever be sensitive enough to receive signals from space, specifically from a geostationary satellite some 22,000 miles from the earth, but in a year or two these services will be all the rage in Europe.

And they are so popular that the European Commission has received its first law suit from one of the companies that wants to provide such services, claiming that the process by which the Europe wide licenses will be allocated is not legal, and favours European companies.

Effectively the Mobile Satellite Services idea has come about from improvements in how satellites work, specifically the way they can now unravel huge 25 meter antennas, and move them around for best reception so that tiny internal antennas in handsets using the 2.1 GHz range of radio signals, can pick up the signal from space. It is the radio equivalent of hearing a pin drop on earth from space.

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O2 have officially announced that the current free/discounted MacBook/O2 Mobile Broadband rumour is just that. An O2 spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that there are “no such plans to launch an Apple MacBook laptop offer,” and that the rumours are “untrue”.

As we all know, O2, who along with Carphone Warehouse, hold exclusive carriage rights to the iPhone, were thought to have worked out a deal with Apple which would see them match the current slew of free laptop offers available from mobile broadband providers and network rivals T-Mobile, Vodafone, 3 Mobile and Orange.

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Mobile phone companies are joining with chipset and laptop manufacturers to promote integrated mobile broadband support on laptop computers.

The united front of industry giants will build wireless modules into laptops designed to provide fast access to mobile broadband. A “Mobile Broadband” logo (see image) will mark out computers that will accelerate current third generation speeds and are compatible with future fourth generation technology. It is expected that the new laptops will be on the market in 91 different nations before Christmas.

Companies that have joined the alliance include laptop manufacturers Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo as well as 3, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Ericsson, Orange, Qualcomm and Vodafone. The coalition of companies has said it will spend about £554m ($1bn) altogether on promoting the logo and informing customers about laptops fitted with the new technology. The agreement to produce the modules, build them in to laptops and to campaign around the Mobile Broadband logo has been brokered by the GSM Association (GSMA) - a trade body that represents 80% of the world's mobile phone companies.

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There is talk abroad of a deal brewing between Apple and O2 that could see customers who sign up for either of O2’s mobile and home broadband offerings getting MacBook or MacBook Pro laptop throw into the bargain.

The two companies, apparently still cosy in their iPhone relationship will be offering free hardware to subscribers in a bid to match the current free laptop offers available to Carphone Warehouse customers who sign up with Orange, 3 Mobile, Vodafone, and T-Mobile.

It is as of yet unknown whether the Macs will be available free, we presume, given that Apple stuff generally costs a pretty penny that the MacBook will either be available as a free gift, or at a lower cost that the Pro version.

Last month, Sony Ericsson was vocally denying reports that its flagship launch this year, the Xperia X1 Windows handset, was delayed. Now, however, it admits that the product will be released as promised on September 30, but only through restricted channels in key markets like the UK. Nonetheless, the phonemaker is planning a major marketing initiative around the smartphone, as it fights for attention in the pre-Christmas buying period among other high profile new arrivals like the Nokia N96 and Samsung i850 Innov8 - even if some of its tactics look like copycats of Nokia’s N96 drive.

In the UK, O2 and Vodafone will offer the Xperia X1, which has been hotly anticipated since it was unveiled back in February, from the end of this month. Orange will also have the phone, but only through indirect channels, mainly Phones4U. T-Mobile and 3 will not have the product in Q4. Dave Hilton, marketing director for SE in the UK and Ireland, said in an interview: “As part of a plan to launch the Xperia X1 this year we had to limit the release. Come Q1, there will be resources to range it elsewhere. As it was a fairly late project, only limited networks could be involved, but it will be available to the large retailers and a small amount will go through distribution for other retailers.”

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Nokia has been stepping up its efforts to excite developers for its smartphones with a host of programmer competitions and initiatives, and the latest is to give its new N96 flagship handset its own TV channel.

One of the marketing pushes designed to keep interest in the N96 high even amid recession and increased competition, Capsule 96 will allow users to download ‘mobisodes’ or mini-episodes (in this case, about 96 seconds). It will also encourage developers to create these content bites to showcase their wares as well as the capabilities of the phone, which is optimized for video.

The main topics included in Capsule 96 are motoring (with a show called Cabin Fever); fashion (Portfolio); gadgets (Byte-Wize); comedy, home design, and arts/entertainment. Pulse will be a feature on the latest galleries, festivals and performances; and the comedy section will be called Funnyhaha.

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The carrier portal market has gone through many phases in its short life. Portals like Vodafone Live! started out as the closest thing users could get to a real mobile web experience, featuring real entertainment, as well as a refinement of the old walled garden, designed to allow the consumer some web roaming capabilities, but to keep them within the operator's environment by making the internet experience usable and content-rich.

This strategy has recently been weakening for the major operators as the unfettered mobile web becomes more accessible and usable, and as the headlines have been dominated by vendor-driven front ends, portals and stores like Nokia Ovi. Now Vodafone, learning many lessons from Japan's majors, is looking to reinvent its Live! portal and set a new benchmark for operator offerings, that could see the balance of power shifting back somewhat to the carriers again.

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There are many more things to put right in mobile broadband before it becomes the multi billion dollar business that home broadband is today, even though the technology is capable, which is shown by this week 3 Group saying that it has reached the 1 million customer mark for mobile broadband.

3 was the earliest to offer flat rate broadband pricing, and has captured a lead for its HSDPA USB modems in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, most of them used plugged into a PCs as a cellular initernet connection. These will move increasingly into devices that will offer portable broadband in the home as well - creating completely wire free homes.

But unwary consumers still need to keep an eye on the fine detail of just how broadband billing is working for them, both and 3 and other cellular operators, notably Vodafone are falling foul of broadband billing. Vodafone had the horrible publicity earlier this week of billing someone over half a million pounds for the data element of a phone bill, which it took several days to rectify, while similar stories abound about 3 across Europe, which has run into trouble with the Italian regulator, after sending out bills for $10,000 (£8,000) for one month of data usage.

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3 have called on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to give T-Mobile a telling off over their recent best value for minutes guarantee on a range of £30 monthly tariffs.

T-Mobile quite rightly claim that no other operator bundles more minutes for £30, but 3 can offer more minutes for less money on their £27 Mix & Match tariff, and they want the regulator to intervene. Still, £27 inst £30, so T-Mobile, technically aren’t fibbing.

Apparently, T-Mobile have price-matched against “the other four networks,” which presumably means Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Orange and O2, conveniently cutting 3 out of the loop.

What is misleading is the implication that no other network offers better minutes-per-pound value, which is 3’s specific beef. When contacted, the ASA stated that they are still looking into the complaint.