Mobile Digest

Review: Motorola S805 "DJ Style" Stereo Bluetooth Headset

The propaganda

Stereo Bluetooth looks set to become incredibly popular throughout 2007. If CES is anything to go by, and that after all is what CES is for, then it looks like we’re going to be bombarded with all manner of devices offering A2DP connectivity, ranging from phones to car stereos, MP3 players to headphones. Apart from the blissful absence of wires, lure enough in itself for anyone who is fed up with constantly trying to untangle their mobile and iPod from a perpetually knotted headphone cable, A2DP often comes in conjunction with AVRCP which allows you to control music sources wirelessly as well.

Although there aren’t a huge number of A2DP standard wireless headsets available in the UK at the moment, Motorola has always been at the forefront of this particular technology and it’s no surprise then that it has been first to market with what I consider to be a decent sized pair of headphones. I personally can’t stand earphones and think they are bloody uncomfortable, so a full sized pair of cans is always my personal preference. And they always sound so much better.

The S805s have an integrated mic with echo and noise reduction for making and receiving calls and they offer play/pause, skip and volume controls accessed by buttons on either side and jog-wheels built into both ear pieces. You charge them via the mains, which takes about 3 hours, and if you want to listen to a non-Bluetooth source, they even come with a 3.5mm

The good

For a device with only two buttons, general operation, setup and pairing is remarkably straight forward. You simply hold the call button to switch the S805s off or on, or hold it longer to begin pairing. When tested with an A2DP compatible phone, I found the response speed for the playback controls was generally very fast and only occasionally lagged out.

Battery life is also very good. You get about 17 hours of playback from a single charge and the sound quality remains stable throughout, only beginning to tail off right as the battery is on its very last legs.

Comfort – always an essential factor in big headphones – is great too. These cans aren’t too heavy at less than four ounces and there is plenty of flex in the construction which means they fit round your head very nicely. If I had to complain, it would be to say that they don’t hang round your neck as well as my battered old pair of Sennheisers used too, but that’s not huge problem.

The bad

Take the ‘DJ’ part of the name with a heavy dose of salt. The sound quality isn’t stunning and certainly not up to the standards that any self respecting audiophile would appreciate. Bass tends to twang rather than thumps and rapidly tops out with a horrible jarring sound and the range of mid-end doesn’t fully compliment the lower end sounds. Treble is a bit better though and is crisper and clearer but with an understated feel similar to the bass. A2DP also yields a fair bit of background hiss too.

In fact you can do wonders for the sound quality by keeping the source volume about as low as humanly possible and turning up the S805s up to full. This implies that the more serious sound quality issues are not so much to do with the headphones themselves but the limitations of A2DP. It is fortunate then that the S805s do turn up very loud, but that is counter balanced by the fact you have to keep the source volume so low so that in the end you may struggle to hear properly in noisy conditions such as a busy street.

Geek Sheet

A2DP stereo Bluetooth

17 hours battery life

3 hours charge time

Control playback and answer calls

Streaming: up to 30ft

In the box: charger, case, 3.5mm cable

Integrated echo- and noise-reduction microphone

Overview

Clearly A2DP still has some way to go before it will ever come close to straying on to the level of quality that a wired solution can offer. Likewise, the Motorola S805 headphones have some creases to iron out and getting the best possible sound out of them is fiddly at best, hit and miss at worst. That said though, now that I have them sussed I am pretty keen on them. The fact that I can pause and skip tracks without reaching for my pocket, then answer a call without missing a beat, still never fails to raise a smile…

Related stories: Motorola DJ-style S805 stereo Bluetooth headset | 3GSM: Motorola's ergonomic RIZR Z8| Review: Parrot Wireless Speakers | More Gadgets...

Related sites: Motorola

LG Prada Bluetooth headset - for your LG Prada phone

Spotted over at Shiny Shiny is the first accessory for the recently-announced LG Prada phone - the LG Prada Bluetooth headset.

However, unlike the very stylish handset, this first add-on doesn't look like it offers much more than any other on the market, with the exception of the Prada logo and the knowledge that it matches your mobile.

But if it gets your pulse racing and you want to know more, head over to Shiny Shiny now.

Beat Crazy Frog at his own game!

No, not by releasing a rubbish Hi-NRG cover of an old soft-rock tune while doing your best washing-machine impression over the top. Really.

Instead, a new service called Fonepark lets you set up your own Jamster wannabe, selling ringtones, wallpapers and mobile games. It's free to set up and run your own site using the service, you get 80% of the profits, while Fonepark takes 20% in return for hosting the site and handling billing and customer service.

Sadly, Fonepark doesn't supply the multimillion pound budget you'll need to book up hours of advertising time on digital channels, to really take on the evil Frog. But still, it's an intriguing idea.

(Fonepark website)

tera002.jpgThink watching top-shelf DVDs makes you go blind? Try watching a two-inch screen. Yet mobile adult content is growing pretty fast, as I heard from Brickhouse Mobile at 3GSM last week.

Think watching top-shelf DVDs makes you go blind? Try watching a two-inch screen. Yet mobile adult content is growing pretty fast, as I heard from Brickhouse Mobile at 3GSM last week.

Now adult star Tera Patrick has signed up to host a mobile portal called, er, Moistmob. Tera will have her own blog on the site, talking about new features and her latest exploits, as well as a bunch of videos for download.

Tera's not the first adult star to launch her own mobile content, mind. Everyone's favourite fugly dude Ron Jeremy has his own range of mobile content, while Jenna Jameson famously launched a series of 'MoanTones' – ringtones of... well, you can probably work it out for yourself.

(via Pocket Picks)

Cisco and Apple finally agree that both can use the iPhone name

In a move that is probably of greater benefit to Apple, Cisco have agreed to drop their iPhone trademark lawsuit, allowing both companies to use the name for their intended purposes.

Both companies agree to drop any pending actions over the trademark, and the joint statement issued also alludes to 'exploring opportunities for interoperability', whatever that might mean. Though some commentators think that CIsco have got a raw deal, if Apple ever wanted to go into VoIP services using the iPhone, they might need to explore that avenue.

The rest of the agreement is confidential, so we'll never officially know whether money was involved, or what other terms and conditions have been put in place.

The best news for Apple and its fans, though, has to be that the name won't have to change. It's iPhone, and that's a fact.

Shiny awards 2007: WAG gadget - that'll be the LG Chocolate phone then

Well England's football team might have had a dismal World Cup, but at least the WAGs did the nation proud by epitomising the qualities that make us superior to every other nation on Earth - namely binge drinking, handbag shopping and hamming it up for the paps.

So to salute that fine squad of young women we institiuted the WAG gadget award. Trouble is there could only be one winner - LG's Chocolate phone. It started in the hands of the very definition of a WAG, before making its way into the handbags of every WAG wannabe and WAG willneverbe. It's got the strokeable touch sensitive controls, the colourful screen, and a free footballer comes with every purchase. Or at least I think that's the latest promotion Carphone Warehouse are running....

Full list of shiny awards winners are here.

Shiny awards 2007: ASBO gadget - Samsung's K5 (with a bit of help from Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones)

On paper putting a powerful speakers in an MP3 player sounds like a great idea.

But just as camera phone makers inadvertently created the fave ASBO past-time of happy slapping, so the Samsung K5 along with the Sony Ericsson Walkman range of phones have been unwittingly responsible for the new phenomenon of ‘Bus Blasting.’

This is when normally peaceful buses are turned into discos on wheels as young tearaways push their K5/Walkman speakers to the max, much to the annoyance of all the other passengers.

So far on north London buses we have witnessed sound offs, fights, heated debates about the merits of white rappers, and, it has to be said, a wonderful loved up vibe on the 1.30am N73 night bus.

Besides as annoying as it might be inflicting your taste of in music on your fellow passengers we suspect that true ASBO collectors prefer Heelys skate shoes, after all those wheels are really handy for quick getaways.

Shiny awards results in full here

Sagem H4 - smallest-ever Bluetooth headset?

Here we go again, another "smallest ever...", this time from Sagem, which claims its H4 headset is the smallest on the market.

Is it? Well, if you know of an earpiece that's smaller than 35 x 18 x 12.5mm, let them know. If not, we'll presume the company is right. The H4 weighs in at 8g, is available in a glossy black, and has the ability to store and call two of your favourite numbers from a dedicated button, as well as handsfree voice dialling if you phone supports it.

Talktime is 5 hours, with 100 hours of standby. There's also a light indicator if the battery is low. Available now, it retails for £53.

Sagem website

Interview: Microsoft talks about its new PlayReady DRM technology

At 3GSM this year, Microsoft launched PlayReady, its new ‘content access’ technology for mobile content, including music, video, games, ringtones and wallpapers. In essence, it’s extending Microsoft’s existing Windows Media DRM system to mobile, and expanding it beyond music and video.

I sat down with Microsoft’s Jim Alkove at 3GSM last week to find out more, starting with the basic overview.

What’s PlayReady about, in a nutshell?

Basically it’s a content access technology that supports different business models, like subscriptions, rentals, purchases, pay-per-view and preview, for a wide variety of content types well beyond music and video.

The technology will support an array of operator partners, including Bouygues Telecom, Telefonica, O2, Cingular and Verizon. And it’s available on a platform-agnostic basis, meaning it can be put in a wide range of devices, including operating systems other than Windows Mobile 6.

It will be available in the first half of this year for device implementations, and we expect we’ll start to see volumes of handsets coming through sometime in 2008. So that’s the high-level framing of what we’re announcing.

Tell me more about the thinking behind it

The technology is the result of a multi-year dialogue with the operators, including partners and mobile industry associations like the GSM Association. In a lot of ways they came to Microsoft to discuss how we could bring forth a suitable technology. Windows Media DRM has a long history since 1999, including being the first pioneers of the music subscription business. So PlayReady is the result of a long dialogue with the operators about how we bring that technology to the mobile market.

Windows Media DRM did move into the mobile space with various operators, such as [US operator] Verizon Wireless with VCAST. But PlayReady represents a marked step forward in the applicability of our technology to digital goods for mobile operators.

Today we think about music and video and games, but there are all kinds of interesting services operators would like to deploy to consumers. There’s enormous potential in the mobile entertainment space, and content access technology is a key enabler there, enabling operators to build differentiated offerings for consumers, and for consumers to have a wide variety of ways to access that content, whether they want to subscribe to it, or purchase it, or whatever.

What this really represents is bringing the mobile device centre-stage and allowing the consumer to do with their mobile all the things the previous ecosystem would have been able to do. Traditionally, portable devices are tethered accessories or peripherals to the PC. PlayReady brings those mobile devices out as first-class citizens, and enables it to participate directly with the services, for example subscriptions, without the PC.

Mobile seems the perfect medium for subscription music services, is it DRM issues that have held them back in the past?

Yeah, I think subscriptions are a very interesting business model, where there’s a critical need for content access technology. We prefer that term to DRM. Technically they’re the same thing, but content access technology really turns the lens around and focuses on the fact that what we’re doing is enabling interesting opportunities for consumers, and for operators to offer innovative services.

So for subscriptions, I think China Mobile has a ringtone subscription service where you pay a flat-rate fee, so rather than purchasing ringtones one at a time, you get access to unlimited ringtones for a flat monthly fee. That’s an example of a very interesting application of the subscription business model to something very popular like ringtones.

There’s numerous reports that mobile content isn’t growing as fast as the mobile industry expected. Do you think technologies like PlayReady will kickstart this again?

From our dialogue with mobile operators, especially in Europe, we see content access technology as a key enabler for these businesses. Mobile entertainment is continuing to grow though. The stalling you describe is more around music, where people are trying to figure out the right value proposition for consumers in the mobile music space. The reality is that things like mobile gaming are continuing to grow at a pretty good pace.

The operators are very focused on what they can deliver to the consumer in terms of mobile content offerings. Digital goods are equivalent - one copy of a digital good is the same as another copy, so if they want to offer a differentiated offering - purchase versus rental versus subscription - you need a content access technology. It’s about bundling, packaging and making compelling offerings...

Will PlayReady have a role in user-generated content? That seems to be building up some steam in mobile.

There are absolutely opportunities for content access technology in the user-generated space. That’s one of the benefits of PlayReady: we’ve added a degree of flexibility that allows us to partner with mobile operators and handset OEMs to build out new and exciting services over time, and have that fast pace of innovation that a commercial technology can really bring to bear.

Who’s going to explain what PlayReady is and how it works to mobile users?

From a marketing perspective, what you should be explaining to consumers is the service offer, rather than the underlying technology. Too often, the dialogue that happens in public around content access technologies or DRM is we tend to focus on the technology, rather than the service or offering it’s enabling.

So if I was a mobile operator, I’d be focusing my marketing on what I’m offering you - a music subscription service, or the ability to preview a casual game on your phone and then upgrade to a full version with one click to purchase. To consumers, the content access technology should be transparent.

For example, PlayReady allows a concept we call domains. If a user has multiple handsets, plus a PC and a laptop, and he wants the content to be seamlessly moved around those and be used at any locations, the domain feature we’re introducing enables content to be licensed to you, the user, as a group of devices, rather than individual devices as it is today.

A lot of content upgrade or migration scenarios today are problematic, and people often blame DRM for not enabling that. PlayReady will allow that content to move much more seamlessly along the devices that have been authorised by the service. That’s an offering decision that the operators will make, but PlayReady enables it.

How about sharing content with your friends’ mobiles. Zune’s been doing that in the MP3 player area, so will superdistribution be a factor in PlayReady?

Superdistribution is absolutely one of the business models we’re talking about for PlayReady, and at our 3GSM booth we’re demonstrating Bluetooth superdistribution on a couple of Nokia N90 handsets, which can send a music track from one to the other. It really brings home what PlayReady is enabling in terms of that P2P recommendation experience you’re talking about.

We think that’s a very powerful experience for consumers, and one reason we wanted to demonstrate it at the show is to prove that content access technology can enable interesting experiences for consumers, rather than what many people associate it with, which is stopping people from doing things they like to do.

So superdistribution is absolutely part of it, enabling consumers to recommend a song to a friend, and creating the subsequent business opportunity for the operator to enable the publisher to be compensated for that recommendation.

Is there a danger people will focus on PlayReady as a music-related technology, rather than the other mobile content forms?

It’s about providing the flexibility to provide new and interesting opportunities to consumers. We’ve talked already about user-generated content, and there are other new and interesting innovative services beyond music.

Content access technology has recently been pigeonholed into this music discussion, but the reality is it’s much broader. It’s really about enabling digital goods and commerce between consumers and operators in a way that’s very compelling, flexible and transparent to the greatest extent possible for consumers.

Last question then: what are some of the cooler non-music services you mentioned - what's got most potential?

Mobile gaming is definitely one. PlayReady will enable protection of mobile games in a way that is quite flexible. Traditionally, when you talk about music content access technology, it’s about yes you can play this music, or no you can’t. With games, there’s a lot of interesting angles to how you would use the technology to make interesting offers to consumers.

For example, you might play the first level for a mobile game, but if you want to access higher levels, you’d have to purchase the game. Or you could license the game to the consumer for a number of total hours of playtime. So you could rent five hours of playtime, rather than a month, and you’ll see this timer ticking down as you play, so you know how long you’ve got until you need to top up your credit. That’s the kind of stuff it’s enabling in mobile games.

Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth headset with noise reduction

With government legislation on mobile use in cars getting some teeth at the end of February, there's a rush to market for new Bluetooth headsets, including the Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth headset.

The Plantronics Discovery 655 is a lightweight headset (just 9g) featuring Digital Signal Processing (DSP) - technology that reduces noise levels for enhanced sound and clearer conversations.

The headset also features 10 hours of talk time and a vibrate ring indicator. it retails for £59.99.

Find out more

Nokia 7373 Special Edition - fashionista phone designed by Giambattista Valli

Nokia has announced a new handset to coincide with Paris Fashion Week - the Nokia 7373 Special Edition, reworked by fashion designer Giambattista Valli.

The Nokia 7373 Special Edition comes in two colours and with a range of Giambattista Valli accessories. The Powder Pink version has a pearl necklace for a strap and a miniature pink skull. The Black Chrome has an onyx-like crystal strap and black skull. And if you're into your fashion, you might appreciate the phones being pre-loaded with images and video footage from the life of the designer. The rest of us might not.

Everything else is as the standard version - 262k QVGA screen, 2 megapixel camera with 8 x digital zoom, Bluetooth, music player and FM radio. it should be on sale in March, priced at 280 Euros without a contract.

Nokia website

Who wants a Wi-Fi digital camera when you've got a mobile phone?

Stuart Dredge writes...

This post started life as a rant about how cool Wi-Fi digital cameras are, spurred by news that Nikon is launching two new models, the Coolpix S50 and S50c.

After all, it's about time there were more Wi-Fi cams available for those of us who've been longing for the next generation to follow up Kodak's EasyShare-One, Canon's PowerShot SD430 and Nikon's own Coolpix P1 and P2.

Yet the more I wrote about the potential uses for a connected digital camera, the more I realised that mobile phones are already doing pretty much all of it, and what's more are more likely to soon include technologies like GPS that'll take wireless photo-sharing to the next level.

At a basic level, the benefits of a Wi-Fi-enabled digital camera are clear, if a little prosaic. You take a bunch of shots, then when you get home, you don't need a USB cable to transfer them to your computer – or even print them if you've got a Wi-Fi printer sitting around. This is useful stuff, even if reducing my USB cable count by one still means there's about 74 lying about the house.

But the coolest stuff that could be done with a Wi-Fi cam - or so I thought - was the sharing aspects while out on the go. Check Nikon's press release for the new S50 and S50c: "Users can share pictures with friends and family from just about anywhere by emailing images directly from the camera through open-access wireless hotspots".

Okay, so the lack of open-access hotspots is a bit of a barrier, but I'm sure that's surmountable if the camera manufacturers can do similar deals with Wi-Fi hotspot networks as that done by Nintendo for the DS.

In theory, Wi-Fi cams could cross the chasm between shooting and sharing. Imagine: you're out and about taking photos, and whenever you're in range of a friendly Wi-Fi network, the camera automatically uploads them to whatever photo-sharing service you're using (ideally you'd get a choice, although I'm guessing the camera firms would prefer to restrict you to their own proprietary online services).

Point, click, and share without even thinking about it. It'd be great. More Wi-Fi cameras, I say! But hang on a minute. My mobile phone already does this, having downloaded the nifty ShoZu application (pictured) a few months ago. Whenever I take a photo, it asks me if I want to send it to Flickr. Say yes, and off it goes.

The quality of mobile phone cameras is improving all the time. Once we reach five megapixels in mass-market handsets, that'll be enough for most people's needs – and certainly enough for online sharing. There are obstacles - such as crazy data charges from your operator if you upload too many images - but if you're yearning for a world where you can share your daily snaps without even thinking about it, it's doable right now if you're on a suitable tariff.

There are some great professional uses for Wi-Fi digital cameras (think news and sports photographers, for example), but when it comes to consumer uses, phones will surely trump them – not least because for the near future, you're far more likely to be in reach of a 3G network than a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Even once we have city-wide WiMAX networks and suchlike, there's no reason phones won't be able to use those too. In fact, it seems logical to assume that mobiles will also steal some of the useful ideas from Wi-Fi cameras, such as automatic photo synching when in range of your home network.

Plus there's that GPS. I for one can't wait until my phone can automatically associate geotagging data with my snaps, which can then be plotted against a Google Map or whatever once uploaded to the Web. If I allow it to be, of course. There's probably some privacy issues I should think more about before sharing location-enabled pics willy-nilly. But anyway, GPS will be in more phones sooner than it'll be in digital cameras.

The upshot of all this. If we're talking about connected photography devices, surely it's got to be phones if you're not a pro snapper? Wi-Fi cameras excite the gadgety geek inside me, but when it comes to thinking about what I'd actually get more use out of, the mobile wins every time.

3rdi - CCTV-like security using your mobile phone

Not the first time we've featured mobile-based home security, but the 3rdi mobile security system seems fairly straightforward to use and indeed affordable.

The system uses a small camera that can be positioned anywhere to watch over anything that you value around the home, the office or even in the car. Once the camera is in position, you can view live footage of your possessions whenever and from wherever you want via your mobile phone.

The system also works when you are not watching the camera. Using infrared and motion sensors, the camera detects when an intruder has entered your home, with the 3rd-i control centre immediately sending a text message alert to your mobile phone. You can then access a recording of the event that set the camera off or view the location in real-time. Images are stored at the 3rd-i control centre for up to 30 days, so if the mobile phone is switched off when the alert is sent, footage of the event is still available.

The 3rdi camera retails for around £200, check the company's website for pricing for its monitoring services.

3rdi website

Forget the features; mobile users just want good reception, research says

Research carried out by the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME) amongst 15,000 mobile phone users across 37 countries has concluded that what they want more than fancy, complicated features is decent voice reception.

The number one complaint from mobile users was "function fatigue". Too many features, coupled with poor explanations of how they work, are the reason.

"Pain begins at point-of-purchase as users see lack of demos, product knowledge and slow service," concluded the report.

This might sound like bad news for the mobile manufacturers, who are keen to push ever more features and functions into their handsets, but then again, we all love getting phones with the greatest features on, even if we end up only using 10% of them.

The survey was partially funded by Palm, who would no doubt tell us that their devices are very eaasy to use.

Other mobile irritations raised in the survey included the cost of service, poor battery life, and dropped calls.

More mobile phone news

Lexar introduces 4GB miniSDHC and 2GB microSD storage cards

Lexar is adding some new storage cards to its range - 4GB miniSDHC and 2GB microSD storage cards.

Lexar’s new 4GB miniSDHC card will allow you to store more than 100 hours of video in MPEG4 (3GP2) format, over 1,000 songs (4-minute song in MP3 format), or over 4,000 photos (using a 3 megapixel cameraphone). The new 2GB microSD card can hold up to 50 hours of video in MPEG4 (3GP2) format, over 500 songs in MP3 format, or over 2,000 photos using a 3 megapixel cameraphone.

As yet, there's no prices, but they will be shipping worldwide from April 2007.

Find out more

Trade in your old mobile phone for Nectar points

Apparently there are 66 million unwanted mobile handsets in the UK, with phones being replaced on average every 18 months. But if you have a Nectar card, you can trade your old handsets in and buy something else. Like a new phone perhaps?

The new scheme is called mobile2points and is in conjunction with Greener Solutions, specialists in mobile phone recycling. You can visit the Nectar website to work out how much your phone will make in points, but as an example, an old Motorola V3 Razr is worth 3,000 Nectar points.

Once you have confirmed the trade-in online, a pre-paid envelope will be sent to you and points will be added to your nectar account in 28 days.

Nectar website

30 things we learned at 3GSM 2007

Phew. As ever, 3GSM was tiring both physically and mentally, with a barrage of new products and companies, plus an enormous venue to walk around. Honestly, if we believed in wearing pedometers, they'd have exploded by Tuesday.

So now the Shiny team is back in Blighty, what did we learn from this year's 3GSM? It's a chance to spot the hottest new mobile phones and technology, as well as suss out the most important mobile trends for the next 12 months. Here's our main thoughts.

1. There was no big theme this year

3GSM 2006 saw immense hype around mobile TV, with companies queuing up to proclaim it the Next Big Thing in mobile entertainment. The fact that it's since disappointed means that the lack of a single big hype this year isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was lots of buzz, but spread around a bunch of subjects, which is a healthier state of affairs.

2. Mobile social networking is a hot topic

There were lots of companies - many of them startups - promising to create MySpace-like communities for mobile. Meanwhile, the big players - the actual MySpaces, Bebos and so on - were undoubtedly at 3GSM, even if they weren't talking about their plans.

From our chats with companies like Cerkle, FunkySexyCool, Clicmobile and others, it's clear how new an area this is. People aren't sure if mobile-only social networks will succeed, for example, or whether mobile is just an add-on to existing web communities. 2007 should give some clues.

3. LG's Prada phone is better than you'd think

Don't take this the wrong way. We weren't expecting the Prada phone (right) to be awful. Just a bit gimmicky. Yet as Susi's video verdict makes clear, it looks and feels like Prada's been involved from the start. And that touch-screen is mighty purdy.

4. Mobile music is a bit rubbish

It seems us mobile users aren't as keen on downloading full tracks to our phones as the music industry would like us to be. Warner Music head honcho Edgar Bronfman Jr told 3GSM attendees that "it's expensive, it's complicated and it's slow", saying the iPhone will hopefully force operators and manufacturers to up their game.

Meanwhile, mobile firm Omnifone was trying to do just that, unveiling what it reckons is a truly mobile iTunes-beater, which it'll be running for operators around the world.

Meanwhile, the music industry continues to rumble about whether it should scrap copyright protection for digital music - if it does, it would certainly have a positive impact on the number of people downloading tunes directly to their phones.

5. Cool new handset designs

Motorola's new Z8 phone has a 'kick slider' design, which is the first handset type to sound like it should be a trick in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. We're looking forward to Nokia launching a triple-back-kick olley grinder phone at 3GSM 2008...

6. Bring on the five-megapixel camera phones

By and large, we tried to steer clear of the really techy companies at 3GSM. After all, the chips and servers they make are only interesting to the likes of us once they're actually in products we can buy.

But a firm called OmniVision announced a five-megapixel auto-focus camera module, which it'll be flogging to handset manufacturers, and which it says is affordable enough to be put into mass-market mobile phones. We can't wait.

7. Don't hold your breath for a roll-up mobile display that can play video

Philips spin-off Polymer Vision got plenty of deserved buzz at 3GSM for its Readius roll-up display for reading e-books and RSS feeds (left). Both Susi (video) and I (interview) were impressed, although the company's goal of putting one in every mobile phone seems ambitious, given they're not expecting the screens to be capable of video for a good five years.

8. We should start getting a bit worried about mobile viruses

Worried you'll look like a n00b if your phone gets hax0red? You should be. Bubbling under the surface at 3GSM was growing concern about the possible impact of viruses in the mobile space - even if some of it was fuelled by the companies looking to flog technology to protect against them.

McAfee claimed at the show that there are now around 350 mobile viruses, worms or other malware, and also said that 83% of mobile operators have been hit by mobile infections.

9. Next-generation phone interfaces will look amazing

We swung by the NVIDIA stand to check out some of the demos running on the company's new mobile chipsets, which will be making their way into millions of handsets in the next couple of years.

One demo featured a user interface for phones that included multi-tasking windows, a 3D interface with snazzy transition effects, and 'fully accelerated translucent window compositing'. Want to know what that is? Watch our video.

10. The operators need to sort out their data-tariffs

If we're all going to be downloading music, video and games onto our phones from sources other than the operator's own portals, we don't want to be paying through the nose in data charges. Yet although T-Mobile and 3 have launched 'flat-rate' tariffs in the shape of Web'n'Walk and X-Series, the other operators are dragging their heels a bit.

Who wants to download a music track if it's going to cost you an extra £3 in data charges? Or, as Yospace CTO David Springall pointed out to us, who's going to upload their cool cameraphone video to YouTube if it costs them £12 to do it? Even Nokia and Sony Ericsson united to criticise the operators' complex tariffs at 3GSM this year.

11. Transformers RAWK!

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift might be the best mobile game of 2006, according to 3GSM's Global Mobile Awards judges, but I'm more excited about the chance to play as Optimus Prime in the upcoming Transformers mobile game. Even if it is a bit unwise to turn into a truck midway through a platform game.

Mobile games were a bit quiet at 3GSM, with only a few publishers booking their own stands to show off new stuff. However, there's a quiet momentum building behind smartphone games - for example with a new Symbian version of Project Gotham Racing.

12. We still can't tell the difference between all the mobile VoIP companies

There are loads of startups aiming to be the mobile Skype. And speaking as a consumer, it's hard to a.) tell them apart, and b.) figure out why we shouldn't just wait for Skype to roll out a mobile application that provides ALL the features you get on the desktop version.

Rest assured, Tech Digest is going to be looking at this whole area very soon, to figure out who's who and what it's all about. For now, we remain confused. Which is why we haven't raced to sign up to any service.

13. Mobile TV is still underwhelming

Research firm M:Metrics surveyed 22,000 European mobile users before the show, and found that former mobile TV viewers now outnumber current mobile TV users. 45% of the people who've turned off say pricing issues were a factor, while 24% cite concerns over service quality and reliability.

From the technical demos we saw at 3GSM, mobile TV will be great. One day. But for now, it's provoking a lot of people who are interested in watching programmes on their phones to switch off.

14. Mobile blogging is growing, with photos and videos the focus

The problem with moblogging was always the assumption that people would type posts on their mobile keypad to upload. However ninja your texting skills are, it's not very appealing.

However, talking to a couple of blogging tech providers at 3GSM (including Motorola), people have twigged that moblogging is more about instant posting of photos and videos as (or just after) you capture them. Which when you think about it, makes way more sense.

That said, the Shiny massive are also converts to SpinVox's Spin-my-Blog technology, which converts your voice blatherings into proper text posts. So wordy moblogging could make a comeback soon.

15. If you want a phone with a full keyboard, you're spoilt for choice

All the manufacturers had the QWERTY bug at this year's 3GSM, including the usual suspecs (HTC), but also the likes of Nokia, Motorola and Toshiba. We blame the rise of mobile email.

16. It's quite seedy to hang around a stand leching on Russian booth babes

Although, yes, it's probably even worse to film them. Sorry about that.

17. YouTube and MySpace have work to do on mobile

The two biggest Web 2.0 brands clearly see mobile as an important part of their future, but mobile types aren't convinced they've got their strategy right just yet. YouTube has signed deals with Nokia and Vodafone, but mobile video-sharing site Yospace reckons it still sees mobile as simply a case of shoving its web vids onto phones.

Meanwhile, social networking firm Clicmobile warned MySpace that it needs to get mobile right, or it could die! The fact that these two companies' are in some form rivals to MySpace and YouTube doesn't mean their views should be written off, either. Figuring out what will make a great MySpace or YouTube mobile service will be one of the biggest challenges in 2007. We're sure it's possible.

18. Don't spunk all your new product announcements the week before 3GSM.

It might mean Susi can shoot videos on your stand without being jostled by 717 men in suits, but it doesn't give her much to talk about...

19. Thin is in

The fashion industry may be (reluctantly) booting underweight models off the catwalk, but Size Zero phones go from strength to strength. Top dog at 3GSM in the 'looks really cool even though you have a nagging suspicion you might end up accidentally snapping it in your back pocket' stakes was Samsung's U100 (left).

20. Us Brits like a night at the movies

And we use our phones to do it too. M-Spatial chose 3GSM to release its latest research on what local services UK mobile users search for using their phones. Cinema was the most popular category, followed by Fast Food, Drinking and Taxi. No, Museums, Opera and Bowling Greens didn't make the Top 10...

21. Mobile GPS navigation is buzzing

Also in evidence at the show was mobile navigation technology, whether applications for phones from the likes of Telmap, TeleNav and ALK Technologies, or GPS-enabled devices from Garmin, BlackBerry and Nokia.

Right now, it's mainly about providing the sort of turn-by-turn driving directions that you'd get in a regular satnav device, but the real potential is in using your mobile's data connection to provide live traffic info and updates, or at some point in the future, tying into mobile social networks (companies like Clicmobile and CityNeo are already looking to do this).

22. Techy mobile companies have a keen sense of irony

At least, I hope that's the case. How they come up with stand slogans like 'Shattering Tomorrow's Boundaries of Mobile Antenna Specification Solutions, Today!' if they're not having a laugh is beyond me.

23. Windows Mobile is gearing up for another big push

Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.0 at 3GSM, with all manner of on-stand demos showing off its new features, which we'll be looking at in more detail in the weeks ahead.

But equally importantly, Microsoft has signed up the likes of LG, Toshiba and HP to make Windows Mobile phones, with the first handsets using the new OS set to appear in the second half of this year, including some from previous licensors like HTC.

24. Creating your own mobile TV channel is more fun than watching what the operators are serving up

If mobile is such a personal device, why do I have to just watch simulcasts of terrestrial or digital channels, hmm? Some companies are exploring DIY TV, where you create a channel of video content to watch on your phone. One example is Vpod.tv, who'll have an interview going up on Tech Digest early next week.

Meanwhile, Dutch firm TNO unveiled a new tech called Farcast which works the other way around, taking video from your phone and turning it into a web-based TV channel.

25. DVB-H mobile TV is still frustratingly far away in the UK

We want it. We want it now. But despite the announcement of cool DVB-H handsets like Nokia's N77, don't expect to see them on sale here unless the powers-that-be in the UK broadcasting and mobile industries figure out how and when to roll the technology out here. Bah.

26. You can finally get Flash Lite content on your phone

You know Flash - it's ubiquitous on the Web. Adobe has had the Flash Lite tool for mobile phones for some time, which can be used for rich games and applications. Trouble was, nobody was really selling them, so you had to frequent developer forums to find stuff to actually put on your phone.

That's changing. At 3GSM, Adobe signed a deal with website Handango, which will be one of the first to sell Flash Lite content to mobile users. Hopefully more will follow.

27. Short films on your phone are cool

At 3GSM, the people behind the Sundance Film Festival unveiled five short films shot especially for mobile, which were immediately made available for download to mobile users.

You can have a gander by texting FILM to 07624 807 811, to get sent a link to their WAP site. Better still, you can freely share them with friends via Bluetooth. The idea of sitting down for three hours to watch King Kong on a phone is horrendous, but short, arty movies like this should find a healthy audience.

28. We quite fancy a simple mobile phone

All these cutting-edge whizzy multimedia handsets can get a bit much at times. Remember the old days, when your phone could make voice calls, send texts and.. well, that was it. Those days don't have to be in the past.

The mobile industry is putting lots of effort into low-cost handsets too, albeit mainly for countries such as India and China, which are expected to provide explosive mobile growth in the coming years. Motorola's F3 won an award at the show for being the 'Best Ultra Low Cost Handset', for example.

If you're thinking of going retro, Tech Digest's recommendation is the newly-announced Nokia 3110 Classic, which is a replacement for the classic 6310i. Ashley liked the big buttons. "If your dad wants a phone..."

29. Touch-screen phones are easy to use

Not sure about how you'd get on without a keypad? Soon you'll have the opportunity to find out. Besides the LG Prada phone, and of course Apple's iPhone, 3GSM also saw the debut of Samsung's F700, which admittedly also has a slide-out keyboard for messaging. But it's the screen that caught Ashley's attention, even from behind a glass screen.

Touch-screen phones aren't just about slinkiness. As mobiles try to be all things to all people - music player, TV, web surfing device etc - the traditional keypad interface is struggling to keep up. Touch-screens mean more flexible user interfaces able to adapt to whatever you're doing on the phone at the time.

30. Everyone thinks mobile advertising will be big. Nobody knows quite how it'll work

The advertising industry loves the thought of putting ads on phones. Not least because the young cool hipsters it likes to target aren't as susceptible to TV and print ads. Along with online advertising, mobile is the new buzz area. Trouble is, nobody's quite sure what kind of mobile advertising will work well, and what us users will put up with.

The mobile phone's a personal device, so any unwanted ads will feel doubly intrusive. Yet at the same time, the mobile industry sees adverts as a way to make mobile entertainment cheaper - or even free - to make more of us use it. Which would certainly solve those worries over mobile TV pricing (see earlier).

At 3GSM, there was lots of talk about mobile ads, but not that much action yet. 2007 will see a big growth in the sector though, whether it's free mobile games with ads on the loading screens, banner ads on your operator portal, or the Crazy Frog bursting into your voice calls every three minutes singing his latest ringtone. Okay, not that last one. Well, I hope not...

Review: Parrot Conference

The propaganda

Conference calling and mobile phones are two technologies that have seldom crossed paths, but it does make a kind of sense. Most offices won’t have a fixed-line conference phone system fitted to every meeting room and although there are cordless conference phones, DECT still isn’t quite as free roaming as a mobile phone and Bluetooth device.

The Parrot Conference is pretty much exactly like any ordinary conference phone in most other regards. It has three integrated microphones for a 360 degree voice pickup and a 5W internal speaker so you can hear the person on the other end. To ensure that you can do things completely wirelessly, it includes three rechargeable Li-Ion batteries that offer up to ten hours of continuous talk-time. The unit will also store 50 different phones in its memory and up to 6,000 contacts which, rather than programming in yourself, you can upload directly using any Bluetooth enabled device.

The good

The Parrot Conference does a good job in two key areas: setup and call quality. Assuming your handset already has Bluetooth switched on and is visible, you can be connected up and dialling in under twenty seconds, most of which time you will probably only spend waiting for the Bluetooth to connect. What’s more, you can connect your phone either straight from the handset or from the Conference itself –you get a choice and that makes things a bit more straight forward. The buttons are large and generally well marked, the two big mute buttons double up as the ‘synchronisation’ button when pressed together.

Call quality is generally pretty decent and its greatest strength is in ensuring that there is no echo at all on the other end. Background noise is also cut down really well so you shouldn’t have much trouble being heard even in a noisy office.

Of course, there’s a possibility that you might not see a mobile phone as the most cost effective solution for making long, often international, phone calls. Luckily Parrot has you covered there as well. The Conference comes with a CD containing software that will let you connect to a Bluetooth enabled PC with Skype. That means you can enjoy all the same functionality, but a heck of a lot cheaper thanks to VoIP.

The bad

Although it is pretty easy to get your most basic call settings up to speed, there are a few areas where things get more complicated. When connecting a handset, you can either choose ‘default’ Bluetooth settings or you can select your model/service from a long list of different handset types and actions. It’s all well and good if your handset is on the list, but at the time of testing I was using a Samsung X820 which was not on the list. Using default settings I could easily connect to the device, make and receive calls – no problem. However, when it sat idle for a few minutes it had a tendency to lose connection. I was also unable to transfer contacts from the phone to the unit.

I then tried using different settings to see if that helped. Sure enough I solved the contacts problem and the handset stayed connected as it was supposed to, but then I could no longer dial out from the main unit. Doh.

Obviously the problem is going to be limited only to those handsets that don’t fully support the Parrot Conference’s Bluetooth systems and even then, an unsupported one like the X820 can still function properly with a bit of tweaking.

Geek Sheet

Speaker: 5 watts

DSP: advanced echo cancellation

3 microphones high sensitivity -47dB

Colour LCD display 262,144 colors

Pairing: up to 50 phones

Number of contacts: up to 6,000 in total

Bluetooth profiles: HSP 1.1, HFP 1.0 & 1.5, OPP, SYNC, PBAP

Supports Skype VoIP software

Dimensions: 265 x 240 x 45 mm, Weight: 640 gr 

Power supply: rechargeable Li-Ion batteries

Warranty: one year from date of purchase

Overview

I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on conference phones, but after a quick trawl on the web, I’m thinking that the £148 price tag on the Parrot Conference is a pretty good deal compared to a normal standalone kit. Although the Bluetooth synchronisation system is good and straightforward to setup for the most basic and important functions, you may find it more of struggle to get the full range of features working on every single phone.

Related stories: CES 2007: Parrot Bluetooth Photo Viewer | Parrot Conference Bluetooth speakerphone| Review: Parrot Wireless Speakers | More Gadgets...

Related sites: Parrot

MySpace may "die fast" if it doesn't get mobile social networking right

Us Brits will soon be able to access MySpace on our phones – well, we will if we're on Vodafone, anyway, as the two companies have signed an exclusive deal. But is it that important that MySpace launches a mobile version?

Apparently so. Alex Kummermann of mobile social networking firm Clicmobile reckons that it's essential to MySpace's continued survival. "Big social networks are like mushrooms: they grow very fast, but they die very fast too," he tells Techspace.

"MySpace is not as attractive as it was one year ago - some users have moved to Facebook or whatever. The challenge for MySpace is to keep the user base from moving to other websites. A good mobile strategy can help in that, but if they miss the mobile move, they might die quite fast.”

That said, it's not as if MySpace's rivals have been noticeably quicker to launch decent mobile versions, so News Corp's mega-community won't be going down the tubes just yet. Read the full interview at Techscape.

M300 wristwatch phone ready for launch

Convergence could move a step forward next month with the launch of M300 tri-band wristwatch phone in Australia by SMS Technology.

How it works in practice, we'll have to wait and see. But it features a 1-inch screen, 64MB of on-board memory, Bluetooth 2.0 an MP3 and MP4 player, along with 3.33 hours' talk time and 80 hours standby. It will retail for the equivalent of £261, with a European launched slated for 25th April. More on that when we have it.

There's also an M501 in the works - made from gold and titanium, it should be available from, June. And an M700, which will be pitched at businessmen and features Outlook and Office synchronisation. That I have to see.

SMS Technology

Via The Register

ShoZu launches automatic Flickr and YouTube geotagging for your mobile photos and videos

There are plenty of people out there geotagging their photos (uploading info on the location they were taking) already, but it takes a bit of knowledge. However, mobile application ShoZu has just added a feature that automatically geotags your photos and videos before uploading them to Flickr, YouTube and various other Web 2.0 services.

You need a GPS-enabled phone like the Nokia N95 to use it, mind, to get an accurate latitude and longitude for where you captured the photo or video clip. For Flickr users, the application will also automatically add your geotagged photos to your Flickr map.

(via Techscape)

Stay legal in the car with Parrot’s CK3000 Evolution

Drive down the road and chances are you'll see a van driver clutching a mobile to their ear whilst negotiating a tricky turn. It's illegal, but no-one seems bothered. However, as of 27th February, the law gets teeth - £60 fine plus three points on your licence. So it might be as well to go hands free.

Parrot's CK3000 Evolution is universally compatible with all Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and using your car stereo speakers, it lets you take the calls with a clear sound (well, as clear as your stereo). You can stay in touch with up to 150 friends, family or business contacts at the touch of a button with the voice recognition functionality and it's easy to transfer between cars.

You can pick one up from Halfords, priced at £99.99 with free installation.

Parrot website

iPhone will raise the bar for "cumbersome" mobile music, says Warner Music chairman

So much for the mobile industry's attempts to persuade everyone to download music to their phones. According to Warner Music Group chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr, it's not working very well.

"It's expensive, it's complicated and it's slow," he told a panel audience at 3GSM this week. "It's amazing we've generated as much revenue as we have given how cumbersome the experience can be." He also pointed out that even buying a ringtone from your operator can often require up to 20 key-presses. The solution? iPhone. Well, kind of.

"Before it's even hit the market it has raised the bar in terms of what users expect with a user interface and what music phones should do," he said. "Now it's up to other mobile phone makers to meet users' expectations. "For those who invent with a similarly inspiring vision, the opportunity is immense."

(via Yahoo News)

Transformers: Robots in a mobile game...

One of the hot stories in mobile games at 3GSM was the public unveiling of Transformers, the official game of the upcoming movie.

If you're yet to be convinced by the joys of playing games on your phone, how about one where you control Optimus Prime himself, switching between robot and truck modes at will?

The game is due out in late June or early July, just before the film hits the big screen.

(via Pocket Gamer)

3GSM 2007: FunkySexyCool is like MySpace meets Am I Hot Or Not... on your phone

Few of the mobile social networking companies at 3GSM are offering users prizes for being attractive. One who is, though, is FunkySexyCool, an Australian mobile community with over 200,000 users posting profiles and voting on one another's purdyness. The company just signed a deal with a company called Hands-On Mobile to bring it to the UK.

Hands-On has also announced its own YouTube-beater, a mobile service called Phame TV that lets users upload video clips from their mobile, and then get a cut when other users download them for 20p a pop. Find out more about both FunkySexyCool and Phame TV over on Techscape's interview with Hands-On's Eric Hobson.

3GSM 2007: Motorola wants to get everyone blogging

The big handset manufacturers aren't just focused on music, TV and signing deals with trendy fashion houses to get some free Prada gear, y'know. Really.

On its stand at 3GSM, Motorola was showing off its new mobile blogging application. It'll sit on a range of Moto phones from later this year, allowing you to automatically upload photos and video to various blogging/photo-sharing/video sites.

In that sense, it's similar to the ShoZu application that's been around for a while now. But at least Motorola is making its application work with a range of different services, which contrasts with Nokia and Sony Ericsson's strategy of signing individual deals with, say, Flickr, Blogger and Vox.

Read more over on Techscape.

3GSM 2007: "The big internet players don't understand mobile"

Can YouTube be a big hit on mobile phones? The company signed a deal with Vodafone last week, but some industry rivals aren't so sure.

One is Yospace CTO David Springall. The company runs the See Me TV and Look At Me mobile video-sharing services for 3 and O2 respectively, and recently got bought by Emap to bring its skills to that company's magazines and radio/TV channels. Will YouTube face a challenge in making itself mobile?

"The trouble with the big internet players is they don't understand mobile very well," he says. "It’s considered simply as a technical issue of getting content onto the phone, but it’s far more than that. Also, these big guys have a different view on what the business model is for mobile, as opposed to the operators. Potentially, what's in YouTube's interests is very different to what's in Vodafone's interest."

Read more about Springall's views on mobile user-generated content at Techscape's interview from 3GSM.

3GSM 2007: NVIDIA's GoForce 5500 demonstration next-gen mobile interface

To see some of the properly futuristic stuff at 3GSM, you have to seek out the technology companies. On its stand, NVIDIA was running a bunch of demos, including one showing a next-generation mobile interface, powered by its GoForce 5500 chipset.

The demo shows a mobile screen switching between video, photos and gaming with all manner of spangly visual effects. How soon will this sort of UI make its way into handsets you can actually buy? That's down to the mobile makers to sort out.

Symbian not threatened by the iPhone

CEO of Symbian, Nigel Clifford, has said that he sees no real competitive threat from Apple's iPhone - in fact he welcomes their entry into the mobile market, particularly in the US.

In a press conference at 3GSM, Clifford also said that Symbian are looking to bringing advanced phone capabilities to midrange mobile phones.

“People think of smartphones as something big, ugly, and expensive. It’s time to lay to rest that myth,” he said.

He also noted four factors that have come together over the past six months that should lead to a boost in the market, including falling prices, more broadly available mobile services, greater penetration of mobile broadband, and improved devices.

Symbian are obviously highly optimistic about the future, and with a 73% stake of the global mobile operating system market, compared with Microsoft's 4.5%, and Apple's currently non-existent share, it's hardly surprising.

Microsoft PlayReady: brand new DRM for mobile devices

Microsoft have announced that they've been working on yet another Digital Rights Management (DRM) system. PlayReady is a new 'multimedia content access technology optimised to meet the needs of mobile operators and handset manufacturers for digital entertainment and commerce.'

In other words, plenty of lovely restrictions put in place to stop us evil consumers doing what we want with content downloaded to our mobile devices. Just like on a PC.

Many leading mobile operators have already signed up to include PlayReady technology, including O2.

PlayReady is the result of extended dialogue with the mobile industry, and will support a wide variety of business models, including subscription, rental, pay-per-view, preview, and super-distribution. Formats supported include WMA, AAC, WMV, and H.264.

Allegedly, "Microsoft PlayReady enhancements make it easier for consumers to move their content between their devices, giving them a new level of freedom with their digital content." We'll have to wait and see about that one.

PlayReady is backwards compatible with Windows Media DRM 10, and Microsoft will also provide an interoperability programme so content can be shared with other qualifying DRM and content protection technologies. Quite how these qualify remains to be seen. I wonder if Apple will get a look in (if they're still using DRM of course)

“Our wireless partners worldwide asked for a single system to power a growing array of business models and consumer scenarios — the result is Microsoft PlayReady,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology group at Microsoft. Ooh goodie - a mobile Microsoft monopoly.

“Microsoft PlayReady technology will help accelerate deployment of our entertainment services, which we see growing in importance for consumers this year,” said Russ Shaw, director of Capability and Innovation at O2 UK. “Protecting content while keeping it easily accessible by consumers is a careful balance, and Microsoft’s digital media expertise and experience is critical to making this a reality.”

Bluetrek ST1 Bluetooth headset

Any phone worth its salt has Bluetooth these days, with most of the high-profile launches at the 3GSM offering A2DP streaming too. So a good time for Bluetrek to launch its ST1 Bluetooth headset.

The headset offers A2DP streaming from a mobile phone or from a PC, allowing you to listen to your tunes without being tied to the wires. And if a phone call comes in, the ST1 pauses the music so you can chat away without a soundtrack.

Battery life is nine hours of music playback between charges (which can be done via USB) or 19 hours of chat and 11 days of standby. You can buy them now, priced at £60.

Bluetrek website

3GSM 2007: Sony Ericsson's K800 Cyber-shot awarded Best 3GSM Mobile Handset 2007

I've just been working my way through the Tech Digest mobile phone archives and realised that the Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K800 camera phone was unveiled on 28th February 2006. And with mobile handsets coming and going so fast, it's surprising to see the K800 voted Best 3GSM Handset at the GSM Association's Global Mobile Awards 2007. 

Launched last year, the K800 was the first Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone, featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera on a 3G mobile handset. See our preview of the handset for the full specifications. Since launch, it's shifted 4.5 million units, as well as being used by James Bond in the Casino Royale movie.

Anders Runevad, Corporate Executive Vice President and Head of Sales, Sony Ericsson said: "Our Cyber-shot portfolio has made true mobile imaging a reality for millions of people and we are very proud that the industry has endorsed our achievements with such a prestigious accolade."

Sony Ericsson website