Is Xperia the New iPhone Killer?

The new XPERIA X1 from Sony Ericsson launched last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. With a full QWERTY keyboard running the latest Windows Mobile 6 operating system it takes multimedia and mobile web communication on the Windows Mobile platform to a new level. But is it good enough to take away the Apple crown?

The Xperia comes with a sophisticated touch screen that slides smoothly along slightly curved rails "arc-sliding" to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. With a 4-way key and optical joystick it also comes with WiFi, 3G and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology for fast wireless internet when you are roaming outside a WiFi zone.

Apple re-defined the mobile user experience with arguably the best touch-driven smartphone on the market. However the current iPhone handset lacks 3G or HSPA which means slower performace if you are browsing over a standard cell­ular network instead of from a WiFi zone.

The Xperia X1 is packed with several advanced features including a widescreen VGA-quality display that can show DVD-quality video.

The first Sony Ericsson smartphone to feature Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, the Xperia could deliver the most powerful challenge to the iPhone to date.

Ultimate Business Smartphones - WiFi or 3G?

As 2007 comes to an end the temptation to kick off the New Year with one of the new range of powerful smartphones becomes irresistible. My challenge is to find the ultimate business smartphone that could increase my productivity in the coming year. But does it mean hunting for a WiFi or 3G handset?

With so many WiFi and 3G enabled smartphones and PDA’s now available all of the best business handsets can now receive email and offer internet browsing. But if you want to optimise your productivity you will want to have the fastest broadband connectivity available at anytime. In that case you will probably need both WiFi and 3G.

Why? First of all WiFi can save you money. With WiFi you can connect at faster speeds for free at home or office, and at free WiFi zones such as Milton Keynes’ Britezone. 3G can give you greater coverage but data plans are expensive. Indeed you may discover that you spend 30 – 70% of your time in locations where secure WiFi networks are available across the country (http://www.hotspot-locations.co.uk/). By making use of free WiFi you reduce the amount of 3G data you pay for.

However blanket WiFi coverage is not available in most places. So when you are out of WiFi coverage you will default to the slower 3G connection. While current 3G connections offer only 384kbps, mobile operators are upgrading their data networks to faster high speed packet access (HSPA) capable of speeds over 1Mbps. It would be worth choosing a handset that can benefit from HSPA technology where available. Examples include Nokia’s N95 handset.

A QUERTY keyboard avoids the laborious task of typing emails with predictive text. Although Apples’ iPhone Safari browser does a great job with its soft keypad and intelligent predictive keys, it may not offer the same tactile feedback as solid keys from mainstream handsets like the Sony Ericsson P1i, the Nokia E61i and E90, RIMs' Blackberry, and the HTC Windows Mobile models such as the TyTyn.

Both the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and Blackberry 8820 offer excellent WiFi. However both manufacturers currently lack 3G offerings. It can make internet browsing out of WiFi coverage painfully slow over slower GPRS or EDGE mobile networks.

Integrated GPS satellite navigation makes a smartphone particularly appealing. However if you run both WiFi and GPS on one handset such as the O2 XDA Orbit or Stellar you will need to have extra batteries or a recharger on hand to avoid embarrassment.

An alternative for the best all round business smartphone without a keyboard has to be the Nokia N95. Now with 8Mb it has a powerful 5 mega pixel camera and DVD quality video. Nokia also offers the ability to make low cost Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls with "Presence" from Instant Messaging providers such as Fring (http://www.fring.com/).

iPhone good for cheap WiFi phone calls?

Today anyone wanting to drive down the cost of fixed line telephony can choose from a lot of Internet Phone (VoIP) options. But while fixed-line costs have come down mobile phones have lagged behind. So with new WiFi enabled Apple iPhone and WiFi Blackberry on the streets, is this about to change?

Paul Taylor wrote in the Financial Times How to ring the changes how any modern phone can be used to make cheaper mobile internet phone calls. But mobile internet calls are still somewhat more expensive than fixed-line broadband tariffs. That is unless you make calls from a free access WiFi zone. And with free WiFi at home, work, or any secure public WiFi hotspot, WiFi enabled handsets such as Apple iPhone, or Blackberry Curve could become the smart way to make cheaper mobile phone calls.

To make a WiFi call directly from both devices you will need a Softphone, a software phone client that provides an alternative keypad on the handset for a WiFi call. Currently this is not available on either device.

Users of Windows Mobile Pocket Pc handsets (manufactured by HTC for operators such as O2 and T Mobile) can already download a Pocket Pc Softphone directly onto their handset. This allows them to make cheap or free broadband phone calls over any WiFi network. The Vario (A new twist on the Vario) is a good option for use with a Pocket PC softphone.

Smartphones such as the Nokia 'N' and 'E' series allow you to set up a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) account directly with an internet phone service provider to make a WiFi phone call.

But setting up either your Windows Mobile Pocket PC handsets and to a lesser extent the Nokia smartphones for WiFi calling can be daunting if you have no experience of SIP or .Net compact framework. That is where Apple and Blackberry can make the difference.

iPhone and iPod 'Touch' Safari user interface is a step change in ease of use for mobile data. The impact is comparable to the way Blackberrys' addictive 'Push' email system changed the experience of mobile email a few years back. If a softphone client for the iPhone becomes available in the coming months, then saving money on mobile phone call costs could be a good reason to invest in the world’s latest must-have icon.

For a review of the iPhone see The Times Everything you ever wanted to know about the iPhone.

WiFi - The Future of VoIP?

Thanks to all of you who attended my Seminar on the Future of VoIP hosted by the BIZTECH network in Milton Keynes on the 1st of November 2007.

VoIP telephony is set to soar as the next-generation of high speed wireless networks grow over the coming year. The struggle for the future of telephony between mobile operators and wireless service providers is set to intensify.

Mobile operators are pushing forward their networks including 3G+, and HSxPA. Wireless service providers armed with WiFi, and the emerging WiMAX standards face them across the battle lines. The future will belong to those operators and service providers that can effectively harness these networks to provide multiple-play (voice, video, mobile, TV, advertising, and entertainment) services to customers.

The key differences between each network technology relates to frequency, bandwidth, range, latency, interoperability, and license cost for the service provider. In order to provide a quality VoIP call networks not only have to provide higher bandwidth – they have to be able to prioritize that call above data traffic. That requires a next-generation network like Britezone that can handle Quality-of-Service automatically.

Assuming your network can provide Quality-of-Service there are two types of dual mode mobile handsets (WiFi / GSM) that can perform mobile VoIP telephony over WiFi networks. Nokia N and E–series high end phones such as the N95, N80ie, E65, or E90 are equipped to do this. They require a manual switch-over between the WiFi network and the GSM network. That means if you are on a call and raom between a WiFi and GSM network, the line will drop. Dual mode phones that can switch-over automatically between GSM and WiFi networks will grow in the coming months. That also requires the mobile network to enable automatic handoff from their network. Today BT Fusion mobile and T-Mobile offer handsets that are suitable.

If you don’t have a dual mode mobile you could use a WiFi-only handset such as the Simply WiFi TA 100. This device has the advantage of not draining your mobile phone battery down while making a WiFi call. And with a USB connection you can charge the device easily from your laptop.

Given that according to Motorola more than 30 per cent of business GSM calls are made indoors, as well as some 70 per cent of 3G data traffic transmissions there is a tremendous opportunity to slash your phone bills by making more of your phone call over WiFi. The tariffs available can be up to 95% cheaper than on a GSM network. Increasingly this will create a major challenge to operators that offer only the mobile network. Also you can now connect to a public access WiFi zones using dual band WiFi “routers” from your home or office. These can act as an access point and client to a public WiFi zone. For example in central Milton Keynes residents living close to the Britezone network are using these devices not only to provide a wireless broadband network from home, but stay connected online anywhere else in the city’s growing Britezone areas.

With the launch of the WiFi enabled Apple iPhone in the UK on the 9th of November we expect to see a great increase in the number of people using WiFi as their preferred telephony service. Why? I will explain more in my next Blog on the future of WiFi telephony.

Thanks to all of you!

Hello, You may already know that Briteyellow is pioneering the largest free access Wi-Fi wireless broadband zone in Milton Keynes http://www.briteyellow.com/Pages/news.aspx. As well as English Partnerships and thecentre:mk we have teamed up with leading companies in the city including John Lewis partnerships, Kimbells LLP, and Ramada Encore to create a unique commercial model for rolling Britezone wireless broadband across Milton Keynes. Briteyellow now have a thriving Britezone community with thousands of broadband subscribers using the network monthly. We welcome the fact the other service providers have chosen to pilot WiMAX services in Milton Keynes. It means Milton Keynes is becoming recognised as an international centre for techology innovation. In future visitors and residents in Milton Keynes will have more choice about how to access wireless broadband out of home. Our idea is to give people that choice. We believe that people should have the option of free access for basic Wi-Fi wireless broadband or to pay for faster connection. That is what Britezone is providing in Milton Keyens today. And thanks to our commercial sponsors John Lewis Department Store, Ramada Encore Hotel, and Kimbells LLP, we can continue to expand coverage across the city. For more information about Britezone coverage click http://www.briteyellow.com/Public/HTML/Registration.html. Happy surfing!

When people ask for advice about adopting new technology it's usually because they've become aware of a piece of snazzy hardware. They look at the price of the latest PDA and then try to work out what advantages it might bring to their business. To approach wireless mobile communications in this way is the wrong way round. It's not the hardware, the technology or the processes that are important. It's the ability to increase productivity, reduce costs, and bring new competitive advantage through greater flexibility, responsiveness, and convenience that should be the starting point.

Fundamentally it is about increasing the speed, and agility of operation. These are what really matter together with cost reduction being the most important point of all to most. In many cases the adoption of mobile technology can save costs sufficient not only to cover the investment in the hardware but in excess of those figures.

We are in the middle of a digital revolution and for the man and woman in the street a pretty confusing one. WiFi, Bluetooth, 2.5G, EDGE, 3G - what does it all mean? Well unless you're working in the industry, you don't really need to know. The only knowledge the average user requires is to know that wireless technologies work.

In my opinion the fixed landline is on now its last legs. Fixed line telecoms companies are beginning to suffer as a result. Wireless mobile - wi-mob - will soon become so commonplace that hardwired telephony will seem as antiquated as your great-grandmother's wind-up gramophone.Our children have already gone wireless. They have adopted the technology without a second thought, and so must industry if it is to be competitive.

The technological revolution is coming in waves on a global scale. In somecountries it is leap-frogging over existing infrastructure. For instance, Briteyellow is working in Nigeria to deliver wireless mobile communication where hardwired landline networks have never existed or have been sporadicand unreliable. A whole generation of people will never know what it's like to plug a connection physically into a network because they'll never have to do it.

Public confidence in wireless technology has now reached the point where everyone is starting to adopt it at home. This is a very important factor in its development. For many businesses it has been a silent a revolution that has already taken place almost unnoticeably. Hotspots are popping up everywhere, in hotels, conference centres, multi-occupancy buildings, housing estates in residential areas. It's a preference in listed buildings and similar venues where hard-wiring is unacceptable and wireless is simply the most obvious solution. People no longer buy technology, they buy services and solutions and by doing so they are embracing the revolution by default.

What about security I hear you ask? This indeed was a factor which held back the revolution for some time. Biometric device protection and advanced wireless encryption has reached a state of maturity and these days it means that your information can be secure - always providing of course that you switch encryption on!What about the communication that we don't want - the wi-mob spam? Visionary commentators have scare-mongered in the past about the likelihood of the public becoming drowned in marketing messages.

Those people who think that this revolution is all about marketing need to rethink. Just because you have established a channel of communication to someone, doesn't mean that you can use it - particularly if you don't have their expresspermission. It's a bit like kissing someone who doesn't want to be kissed. If you do it you're likely to get a slap in the face. Yes, the future is in being able to deliver messages to those that request them, but only on apermission-based platform. The world is awash with spam and no new communication channel will flourish if it cannot operate without abuse.

So what is the future? The future is increasing convergence of wi-mob protocols with better, faster and cheaper communication for everyone. Networks will continue to be built to international standards of protocol and safety and the public will embrace them more and more using next generation wireless mobile products which deliver sound, images and data when and where it's needed. Information will become easier to access. More and more information services will become available and useable. In short, we will communicate with one another with great ease and information will become more and more accessible. We'll work better as a result and smarter, and the costs of the revolution will continue to fall until wi-mob technology is truly universal.

Benefits and pitfalls of mobile working

Mobile working technologies have transformed the way we work. I will give a talk on the benefits and the potential pitfalls of mobile working on Tuesday 8th November at the Chamber of Commerce in Milton Keynes. I will also discuss how wireless email, palm devices, mobile phones, handheld scanners, laptops and electronic notebooks mean we can work from almost anywhere and have all the information we need literally at our fingertips. What happens when these technologies destroy the work-life balance? And does being constantly contactable and accessible always lead to undue stress and impact negatively on home life and leisure?

Who will benefit? All users of mobile working technology Employers, IT and HR Managers
To book your place/s please telephone Beverley Berrill on 01908 259013.
Alternatively, e-mail theevents@mk-chamber.co.uk or book online at www.mk-chamber.co.uk.
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