Nokia set to announce WiFi Google Talk app

Nokia is reportedly adding Google's Talk application to its Internet Tablet device, which has become a popular WiFi device with consumers. According to reports, Nokia plans to announce tomorrow an upgraded version of the device that will come pre-loaded with Google's Talk service to allow voice services and IM capabilities. Last week Google executives said they weren't interested in launching an MVNO or creating a Google phone, but the company does want to extend services to as many wireless devices as possible. Google Talk can already be used on BlackBerry mobile devices from Research In Motion. Read more!

LBS mobile games on the rise

Location-based services (LBS) can spice up nearly every type of mobile content, but none more than mobile gaming. To wit, Amp'd Mobile just announced an LBS-enabled game at E3 called PhoneTag that allows users running around city streets to track other players on maps displayed on their mobiles. Participants can virtually "kill" other players in the massive multiplayer game. Amp'd teamed up with actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's LivePlanet company to develop the game concept. Each player is assigned one target to track and capture, while a different player is tracking down that player--like a daisy chain. The last player "standing" wins. It's not entirely clear to me how one virtually "kills" another, but the game also offers invisibility screens, decoys, infrared goggles, scanners and, yes, even bloodhounds. Virtual ones, of course.

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Nokia Mobile Web Server: Web server on your phone

The Nokia Research Center is well under way on a project to put a web server on a handset. Nokia's grandiose vision: "If every mobile phone or even every smartphone initially, is equipped with a webserver then very quickly most websites will reside on mobile phones. That is bound to have some impact not only on how mobile phones are perceived but also on how the web evolves." That impact may very well be that every time a commuter goes into a tunnel their personal Web site goes down until their handset reconnects with the network.

Nokia is one of the few big companies that still invests in "blue sky" research, but the project is still one worth exploring seriously. However, until networks are more rugged, Nokia's vision is a long way off. Rumors of the project started circling the Internet in early January, but Nokia has just made the client available for public download.

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Malasia: 3G on your notebook

MULTIMEDIA Prospect Sdn Bhd recently announced the availability of the Sierra Wireless AirCard 850, a PC Card for accessing 3G HSDPA services.

The AirCard 850 works on HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks, and it utilises the 2100MHz frequency band for Asian users.

Multimedia Prospect said the product has been tested with the 3G services offered by local telcos Maxis and Celcom.

The AirCard 850 is also backward compatible with EDGE, GPRS and GSM networks, on all four frequency bands – 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz.

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Walt Disney Internet Group To Launch UK Family Mobile Service

The Walt Disney Internet Group said it's creating a mobile phone service in the U.K. similar to what it announced in the U.S in the fact that its targeted at families. Disney Mobile will use the O2 network and will launch later this year. Like the service in the U.S., Disney's service will include family entertainment content and the ability to control children's access to the Internet and chat rooms as well as control voice access and airtime.

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First Commercial 3G UMTS DVB-H Handset

LG Electronics announced the launch of the LG-U900, the world’s first commercially available UMTS (WCDMA) DVB-H phone, at a ceremony in Rome, Italy. The LG-U900 will be available early May through Hutchison, a leading global telecommunications services provider, in time for the 2006 World Cup.

Hutchison Italy, the country’s largest 3G telecommunications provider, has exclusive DVB-H broadcasting rights for the 2006 World Cup. The company will provide video footage of all World Cup matches beginning June 6, through the Hutchison’s service channels, ‘La3’.

Hutchison plans to offer the LG UMTS (WCDMA) DVB-H phone to customers world-wide, after initially establishi ng a base in Italy.

Mr. Mun-Hwa Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, said: “We are so proud that LG is supplying the world’s first commercially available UMTS (WCDMA) DVB-H phone through Hutchison Italy. LG has already proven its unrivalled mobile multimedia technology in 3G markets by introducing a seri es of first-of-their-kind models including SDMB and TDMB handsets. LG will continue to introduce advanced te chnology that is second-to-none in the mobile TV industry.”

Mr. Vincenzo Novari, the CEO of Hutchison Italia said at the ceremony, “With support from LG Electronics, our company will strengthen its leadership in the 3G mobile communication market.”

LG’s new LG-U900 DVB-H handset features a 2.2-inch ‘wide-swing’ screen for mobile TV viewing. Its premium digital broadcasting functions include ESG (Electronics Service Guide) and CAS (Conditional Access System).

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Actual TV on 3G phones

LG Electronics has launched its LG-U900, the world’s first commercial WDCMA phone which can receive terrestrial digital video broadcast (DVB)-H in Rome at the end of April, and it will be made available in time for the 2006 World Cup this month.

Unlike IP-TV which is streamed over the 3G network, DVB is transmited one-to many from TV station to phone like regular TV, except that it’s digital, and it’s received directly by a separate DVB receiver in the phone, much like current FM radios in or attached to GPRS phones do today.

Thus DVB can be received independently of mobile networks and only your feedback and selections, requests, voting, etc are sent back over the network, which forces operators to think of other ways to make money.

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