Google updates Mobile Maps service to include your location

Google announced the release of version 2 of its Google Maps application for mobile phones. New in v2.0 is a beta version of Google's "My Location" technology, which uses cell tower ID information to provide users with their approximate location, helping them determine where they are, what's around them, and how to get there.

Location information makes mobile mapping and search faster and more convenient, but the most common source of location information to date -- GPS technology -- is supported on fewer than 15 percent of the mobile phones expected to be sold in 2007. With Google's new My Location technology, users who don't have GPS-enabled mobile phones will now be able to take advantage of the added speed and convenience afforded by location information. The My Location technology also complements GPS-enabled devices, as it delivers a location estimate faster than GPS, provides coverage inside buildings (where GPS signals can be unreliable), and doesn't drain phone batteries as quickly as GPS.

The My Location technology takes information broadcast from cell towers and sifts it through Google-developed algorithms to approximate a user's current location on the map. This approximation is anonymous, as Google does not gather any personally identifiable information or associate any location data with personally identifiable information as part of the My Location feature. The feature can also be easily disabled by anyone who prefers not to use it.

Phones with a GPS facility will display the location as a small blue dot on the screen. Where cell-id is used, then a larger pale blue zone is highlighted which shows the approximate coverage area of that cellsite.

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Sony Ericsson V640i Review

The Sony Ericsson V640i is a Vodafone exclusive mid-range 3G candybar music phone. Available in Havana Gold or Quick Black, the V640i boasts similar features to other mid-range 3G Sony Ericsson phones, such as the K530i and W660i.

The V640i gets a few extra bonus points over other mid-range 3G mobile. There's HSDPA - up to 4 times faster Internet downloads than 3G, 4 GB memory card support and there's Sony Ericsson's new Media Manager software. The V640i is also quad-band - get better coverage in USA, Australia, Canada and many South American countries.

The camera isn't a full-feature job, there's no flash or autofocus and the screen resolution is just 176 x 220 pixels (same as other mid-range phones). A 240 x 320 screen resolution would have been better, although the price would likely be increased a little.

Design

Sony Ericsson 3G candybar phones are much alike. Similar weights, similar dimensions, keyboard layouts and features. The V630i follows the same format. Made of plastic, video camera on the front (top right), volume and camera buttons on the right, connector on the bottom, and memory card slot on the left.

Keypad: The keys are oblong, big enough, and have decent spacing. The circular navigation keys are a good size - the confirmation key is big.

The memory card slot supports up to a 4 GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card - you can get one of them for about £30 at Amazon.co.uk.

The loudspeaker is the circle beneath the camera lens on the back. Sounds OK.

Music Player

Walkman Player 2.0. The music player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+ and eAAC file formats. View album covers, titles, browse by artists, tracks, playlists, visualization, play mode, skins, stereo widening, equalizer, loop and shuffle.

The V640i has trackID - the music recognition service, PlayNow and numerous quick links to Vodafone Live's music download service (I call them the 'money links').

Media Manager

Organise music, photos, video clips and podcasts on your PC, then transfer them to your phone. An improvement over Disc2phone software. If you lose your CD, download Media Manager from the Sony Ericsson Web site. Or download it right now to have a look.

HSDPA = Fast Internet Downloads

HSDPA stands for High-speed download packet access. The V640i press release states "... can download a track in 14 seconds". Vodafone lead the way in HSDPA mobile broadband services. Current theoretical peak speeds are "up to 3.2 Mbps". You're more likely to get speeds up to 1.4 Mbps (that's what the Vodafone Web site says) - at least 4 times faster than 3G (384 Kbps).

3G is an 'always-on' connection. Much like your home broadband connection, voice and data can be transmitted simultaneously. Yep, use data and voice at the same time - download the latest music tracks whilst you're on the phone chatting to granny Gertrude.

The V640i also has EDGE support (2.75G). At the time of writing (November 2007), EDGE isn't very widespread. EDGE is also quite slow - ask an Apple iPhone user about it. Hahahahahahahahah...

Web browsing

Speed wise, the Sony Ericsson V640i is very good. The browser is fine. Combined with fast download speeds, the V640i is fine for downloading music from online services and getting snippets of information.

Google Maps, eBay, Accuweather

The V640i has a few goodies pre-installed.

* Google Maps - useful. If you want GPS, the V640i supports the GPS enabler HGE-100 headset. Just plug the GPS headset into the V640i connector.

* eBay - a great place to buy hot mobile phones.

* Accuweather - Get weather reports for any city.

2 MP Camera

The V640i is a music-focussed phone. The camera is basic. There's no autofocus, flash, macro mode or mirror. The images are OK (very subjective - you might think they're crappy or you might think they're the best thing since Sooty).

They don't look great compared to top-end camera phones - K850i for example. Pretty obvious.

Identical options to other mid-range 3G Sony Ericsson phones. Shoot mode, picture size, night mode, self-timer, effects, white balance, shutter sound, picture quality, save settings and a few more. 2 megapixels is 1600 x 1200 pixels. Video capture is 176 x 144 (QCIF).

Other Fun V640i Features

FM radio with RDS, Video, Music and Photo DJ, 3G video calling (there's a front-facing video call camera), Blueooth, USB, USB mass storage, and a very good 9 hours 2G talk-time.

Summary

The V640i is a Vodafone exclusive handset. The V640i is great for music playing - 4 GB memory card support is good. HSDPA and quad-band earns the V640i more bonus marks. You can buy the V640i on contract, not sure about on PAYG or SIM free.

FEATURES

• 103 x 47 x 15 mm, 97 g


• Talk time (9 hours), Standby time (300 hours)


• 2-inch 176 x 220 pixel, 262k colour screen


• 32 MB phone memory, Memory Stick Micro M2 (up to 4 GB)



• Quad-band (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)


• EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, Bluetooth, USB


• 2 MP camera, video capture


• SMS, MMS, Email


• Video calling, video call camera


• Media player, TrackID, PlayNow, RDS FM radio



• Media manager


• Access NetFront Web browser, RSS feeds


• Sound recorder, voice dialling, voice control


• Organizer tools

In The Box

Sony Ericsson V640i, battery, charger, USB cable, headset, 256 MB memory card, software CD, user guide.

Buy the Sony Ericsson V640i

Cheap Sony Ericsson V640i contract deals, offers, free gifts and promotions.

• Vodafone

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Evolution of Nokia Phones

All Nokia Cell Phones from 1982 to 2007



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France's Orange comments on iPhone sales goal, unlocking costs

France Telecom mobile arm Orange said it expects to sell nearly 100,000 of Apple Inc.'s iPhones by the end of year and has also vowed to move the unlocked version of the touch-screen handset at costs well below its German counterpart, T-Mobile.

Didier Lombard, chief executive of Orange, made the comments Tuesday during an interview with Europe 1 radio. He said his firm's sales target "is a little under 100,000" units sold between Wednesday evening -- when the Apple handset will make its debut in France -- and December 31st.

With just over 30 days to reach the self-imposed milestone, Orange will need to move a bit more than 3,000 iPhones per day through a combination of sales from its online and direct retail stores.

During the interview Tuesday, Lombard also said Orange would offer an unlocked iPhone in France at a price "significantly lower" than the 999 euros ($1,485) proposed by Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in Germany, but failed to elaborate further.

French law is clear in that it requires cellphone operators to make available phones that are unlocked, and thus Orange and Apple have stated that they will comply with the mandate by offering a version of the handset to French consumers that will not be tied to Orange's network.

Less clear, however, is German law regarding the same matter. Therefore, Apple and T-Mobile launched the iPhone in the region earlier this month without plans for an unlocked version. Local T-Mobile rival Vodafone immediately challenged the terms of the German iPhone deal, winning a temporary injunction last week that has since forced sales of unlocked iPhones. However, Apple and T-Mobile set a steep price of 999 euros on that option ahead of an appeal, more than twice the cost of the standard version.

Full service plan details for Orange's 399 euro iPhone offerings will be published on Wednesday morning, though Lombard on Tuesday offered some early hints at those rates. He said that a 24-month contract would start at 49 euros a month and include two hours of communications and 50 SMS text messages.

Customers who opt for the minimum 12-month contract, however, will pay about 4.50 euros more per month for the same service.

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Mobile Web Bad, Mobile Data Good?

Mobile Web: So Close Yet So Far, a story in The New York Times gives US mobile web usage a B-minus grade. According to Rethink Research mobile web accounts for “12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007, far below the expected 50 percent” while Yankee Group says “only 13 percent of cellphone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web.” Terrible phones, puny network speeds and WAP browsers - no surprise that in a society where people lug laptops even on vacation, mobile web as outlined by NYT isn’t doing well.

In sharp contrast, mobile data seems to be doing well for the US carriers. Here is what they have raked in from wireless data: $8.6 billion (2005), $15.8 billion (2006) and $17.7 billion for first three quarters of 2007. Assuming that the non-messaging data revenues are in the 50-60% (of the data revenues) range for the US carriers, that is pretty hefty growth.

A large push, one would guess is coming from the growing popularity of 3G cards, especially among the web worker/mobile worker crowd. There is anecdotal evidence things will change quite rapidly when we have mobile handsets with real browsers showing up in the sales isles. One such device is already showing its impact. I caught up with Omar Hamoui, Founder & CEO of AdMob, a mobile advertising start-up last week, and he said that over past 30 days the total share of traffic coming to their network from iPhone doubled from 0.4% to 0.8%. Google Maps usage went up after introduction of iPhone. Next year a whole slew of devices are coming to market situation will most certainly change.

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Mobile Phone Radiation & Health

The sped up feature of day-to-day life and increasing demand for perfection in maximum possible spheres of life along with the ultimate desire of comfort and ease has lead us to the heights of development in contemporary times. All these factors are not only the driving forces of economic development round the globe but also the speedometers of standard of living in a particular region, country or area. The only thing that deploys the essence of this development is the unavailability of sustainable growth. On one hand where we’re touching the skies of mega and cellular technology, we’re losing list of essentials, i.e. health.

Setting cellular technology the theme of discussion let’s have an overview of it. One of the major examples of cellular technology, i.e. the mobile phone system is in question for a long time. Both the technology concerns and the social scientists had agreed to differ. And it’s still a vexed question. Cellular phone services being the easiest and fastest modes of communication have billions have billions of subscribers round the world. Even in developing countries where a major part of population is striving hard to satisfy basic needs, i.e. food and clothing, use of mobile phone have become a necessity for them.

Mobile phones use cellular technology whereby the regions are covered by radio waves using a base station antenna as a transmitter and the handset as receiver. Cellular technology is the better option in a sense that it provides better coverage, increased capacity and reduced power usage. Both the digital GSM and the CDMA systems share this base. The point that’s been raised more by the social scientists and health concerns is the effect of radio waves on health. These radio waves are emitted by both handsets and base stations.

With reference to the handsets, the effect of radio waves emitted by the cell phone communication, especially with specific reference to human health, can be categorized as, thermal, non thermal and genotoxical. Thermal effect is one whereby the electromagnetic field of radio waves induces polar molecules that generates dielectric heat letting the live tissues die. For instance some part of head, while receiving the message through radio waves if happens to experience increased temperature can have damaged nerve fibers.

Next to the thermal effect is non-thermal effect, in which keeping the temperature generated by radio waves constant we discuss only the electric current that passes through the cell membrane, while transceiving messages, and finally the genotoxical effect, which has been included in the discussion in 2006. Researches by Greek scientists, Panagopoulos DJ, Chavdoula ED, Nezis IP, and Margaritis LH (2007 Jan) claimed that there’s a casual relationship between cell phone radiation and DNA damage. Later a European study REFLEX had come up with some evidences proving the claim, but all the cases were found to have an exposure to mobile phone quite more than normal.

Besides thermal, non-thermal, and genotoxial effects, there had been a long debate on ‘mobile phone radiations and cancer’. A list of studies supporting the claim and rest opposing has also been observed in this context.

The other face of picture shows the effect of radio waves emitted by base stations. This is another sensitive issue as these waves are emitted continuously, and the increasing number of towers to expand the coverage with a relatively larger bandwidth. The recent reports claim harmful effects of radio waves on peoples’ health living near by the base stations (WHO database). Besides such kind of effect there may be some occasional hazards that may be caused by the ignorance or due to the demand of extreme perfection. For instance during maintenance, the base stations are not turned of, as it may present the network as an inefficient one. This sort of mismanagements would certainly have hazardous effects on the health of people come under the range of waves.

Categorizing hazards may sort out the level of harmful effects generally but being specific to the use of mobile phones it may explore more avenues. The increased use of mobile phones due to technological progress and decreased prices as a result of low cost of production, contribute to the GDPs, but an alarming situation, ignored most of the time is children’s vulnerability to mobile phone radiations. Being an age group, which is in the process of physical and mental growth, they need extra care, but stringent work schedules of parent and the availability of mobile phones for their use may affect their mental and physical growth in any of the above-mentioned way.

Over and above the facts unveiled earlier, there’s no regulation of services in the cellular networks. The problem may persist in a very low proportion in developed countries but the developing countries though being the biggest markets for cellular networks, are not provided the health safety measures, i.e. the use of cell phone in best possible way. Another alarm may persist in the form availability of low quality handsets in these countries, which are either not passed by any regulatory authority or if so, the authenticity of authority might have been questionable.

The debate is all about the hazardous effects of cell phones on human health, but saying that cell phones are hazardous in totality won’t be fair enough. There’s nothing 100% in the world, and there’s always a room for improvement, and betterment, so is the case for cellular phone technology. We can’t leave it as well, but a fair better option is to keep a regulation and check on usage. Cell phone communication does include the emission of radio waves, which are absorbed by the bodies in one way or other, but it’s a hazard only for people with high exposure to the radio waves, i.e. extensive use.

In order to have healthy masses it’s crucial to have regulation of all cellular activities, along with insistence on sustainable growth in the sector. The precautionary principle as recommended by WHO can also be a good measure, but as the sped up life can’t exclude cellular technology from its sphere, further research on hand-off and blue tooth can be innovative and more sustainable measures.

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Orange iPhone data plans revealed

MacScoop has found the iPhone subscription plans for France by searching Orange’s iPhone website, and found unlinked pages that showed the pricing plans.

49€/mo Plan:
- 2 hours + 2 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 50 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and data

59€/mo Plan:
- 3 hours + 3 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 100 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

79€/mo Plan:
- 5 hours + 5 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 150 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

119€/mo Plan:
- 8 hours + 8 hours of voice calls:
- 1000 SMS
- 100 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

Although all the plans advertise Unlimited EDGE data, Orange warns that their will be an unofficial fair use limit of 500MB. Also, it should be noted that the low end iPhone plans all include only 10 hours of Orange’s international Wifi and only the top plan for 119€/mo includes 100 hours of their Wifi. All of these limitations, and time restrictions limit this plan, an don’t make it as desirable as it could be.

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