Tag Archives: mobile phone

psp, sony

So no PSP Phone then?

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After the success of the iPhone as a gaming platform, to me it made perfect sense that the PSP be given a phone capability. Sony’s PSP has been reasonably successful as a gaming platform, but add a phone into the mix, add the Sony PlayStation branding and we might have seen an interesting phone.

Mobile Magazine reports that due to internal disagreements, it is looking like that there will now not be a Sony PSP phone.

Sony Ericsson was planning a PSP phone but has been refused the brand

Sony is understood to have refused to allow Sony Ericsson the use of its PlayStation brand, after the handset manufacturer presented a pitch to the board late last year.

Sony Ericsson was planning to develop a PSP phone to capitalise on the growing success of the gaming sector, and after the success of Cyber-shot and Walkman handsets.

Sources said the refusal to sanction the brand on the handsets in December has prompted a fallout between Sony and the mobile phone joint venture.

A PSP with phone capabilities would have been a device I think many of our younger learners would have purchased and used.

The PSP has certainly been working for us as a mobile device for learning especially when using the camera. We are thinking of getting the GPS module for them and hopefully we can find a roughened case for the device so we can use it in the field (literally in a field up a mountain).

So no PSP Phone then?

As a footnote, nice to see Wired reporting on the Mobile Magazine story using my photograph of the PSP.

stuff

2008 was year of the smartphone

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BBC News has an interesting article on the smartphone and how it made it big in 2008.

There is no doubt that 2008 was the year of the smartphone.

The last 12 months has seen the launch of iconic devices such as the iPhone 3G, Google G1, Blackberry Storm and Nokia N97.

It also saw the emergence of the electronic ecosystems needed to get the most out of such handsets.

Of course it is not all good news, with the economic downturn, sales of smartphones are expected to fall.

What this will mean is that as our learners arrive and may be looking to purchase a phone, they may consider a device which only makes phone calls and SMS, and will ignore the more advanced web enabled smartphones which have so much potential for supporting learning.

The decline in sales could hinder the development and embedding of mobile learning in the UK educational sector, but possibly with the increase in the sales of (cheap) netbooks, maybe it isn’t all bad news for learning technologies.

2008 was year of the smartphone

iphone, nokia

Nokia N97 – is it something special?

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Nokia N97 - is it something special?

Nokia announces the Nokia N97:

The N97 isn’t a device that will trigger knee-jerk hysteria, but instead it should breed cool-headed excitement at the prospect of a new era of mobile experience.

It may be an Nseries handset, but the N97 carves a new space in the otherwise blurred realm between smartphone and laptop – a product built on a foundation of rock solid mobile principles, Nokia innovations, and tangible new technologies, pushed to the extreme and embodied in a slimline pocket shell.

I really like the Nokia N95, as a phone it allows me to do lots of different things. The main weakness for me with the Nokai N95 is the browsing experience. More often I will use JokiuSpot on the Nokia N95 and use an iPod touch for web browsing.

I did consider getting the Nokia N96, however early reviews did put me off, though others did like it. Likewise having seen the adverts for the Blackberry Storm on the London Underground I was tempted by that (especially as I am having problems with my work Vodafone N73 which is due for an upgrade) however Stephen Fry put me off that one (and others it would seem). Another choice was Nokia’s E71, as that was getting some positive recommendations.

So do I have the obvious choice, Apple’s iPhone?

No, partly as when it came out it did not meet my needs, no tethering, no 3G, no applications. Even the 3G model has some limitations, in the main the poor quality camera and lack of tethering. With the Nokia N95 I can use it as a 3G modem or as a wireless hotspot, likewise the 5MP camera does make it quite capable of taking decent photographs.

The other issue with the iPhone was that at work we use Vodafone and my personal phone is with T-Mobile, do going with O2 was not really an option.

However I am not a fan of text entry on the Nokia N95, I have never liked entering text via a phone keyboard. The Nokia N97 looks like it could be a real option for me with the slide out keyboard, S60 operating system and touchscreen.

There are some early reviews out now, CNET and ZDNet.

Will have to wait and see how it works for real.

video

Battle of the mobile phone video streaming services

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Robert Scoble on TechCrunch has written a well detailed and informative article on why he reckons that Kyte.tv will win over other services such as Qik in the mobile phone streaming live video arena.

Anyway, back to the fight between Kyte, Qik, and Flixwagon over your cell phone video experience. Last year I was Kyte’s top user too. Why did I switch to Qik? Because I saw that cell phone video would let me extend my brand into places no other video network was letting me get to. I was the only one doing cell phone videos from the World Economic Forum, for instance, something that got me a lot of attention and followers. I told Kyte’s CEO, Daniel Graf, tons of times over the past seven months to get video streaming into his product. At first he resisted, thinking it wasn’t that big a deal, but on Friday I finally tested it out on my cell phone and was impressed enough to give Kyte a second look.

Robert Scoble is one of the top (if not the top) streaming mobile phone video users and has done some really interesting stuff at events all over the world.

I have mentioned Qik before, for me it certainly has a lot of potential as a tool for learning (and likewise could be a legal minefield in terms of privacy and data protection).

Battle of the mobile phone video streaming services

Article is certainly interesting and well worth reading.

iphone, nokia

Nokia buys Symbian and then gives it away…

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Nokia has bought the rest of Symbian and has “given” it away to the community via the Symbian Foundation.

Nokia buys Symbian and then gives it away...

Probably in response to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, Nokia has purchased the rest of Symbian and has announced, according to the The Register, that it will be then “giving it away”.

Nokia has bought up the bits of Symbian it didn’t already own and is chucking the OS into an open-source foundation along with the S60 UI layer, accompanied by Sony Ericsson and DoCoMo, who are throwing in UIQ and MOAP(S) respectively.

The BBC adds:

Nokia, which already owns 48% of the UK-based firm, intends to develop its software to compete with Google’s planned Android operating system.

This is an interesting response by Nokia to the “threat” posed by Android and the iPhone.

m-learning, mobile

Flash on mobiles opens up

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The BBC reports that

Adobe has announced a plan to try to get its Flash player installed on more mobile devices and set-top boxes.

Dubbed Open Screen the initiative lifts restrictions on how its multimedia handling software can be used.
Adobe will stop charging licencing fees for mobile versions of Flash and plans to publish information about the inner workings of the code.

In taking this step Adobe hopes to repeat on mobiles the success its Flash technology has enjoyed on the web.

This is excellent news for mobile learning as so much e-learning content out there is in a flash format including a lot of video and audio.

mobile

Making it easier to get a signal

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If you are like me you depend on your mobile phone.

Actually if you are like you depend on your mobile phone and 3G dongle for data.

I actually rarely use my mobile phone for actual phone calls, for me mobile data is what I use all the time.

I use it to allow my laptop to connect to the web, for all those kind of laptop based activities, browsing, e-mail, etc…

I use mobile data to Shozu my photographs from my phone to Flickr.

Making it easier to get a signal...

I use mobile data to update my Jaiku feed and use SMS to update Twitter.

I (now and again) browse the internet on the web browser on my phone – usually t find out if my train is delayed or cancelled or for traffic reports.

I use mobile data to allow me to stream live video from my phone via Qik.com to other locations.

If you are like me you depend on your mobile phone for mobile data, or you might just use the phone for phone calls!

Anyhow I was interested to read on the BBC website about a new technology which will make it easier to get a better signal.

The signal strengths of laptops and mobile phones are set to be radically improved if new technology developed by Oxford scientists comes to fruition.

Engineers at Isis, a technology transfer spin-out company of the University of Oxford, have found a way of creating antennas which can work in three “planes” but that are small enough to fit in hand-held devices.

Now if you are making a phone call and the signal strength drops, what you notice is a reduction in the quality of the call.

However with mobile data, if the signal strength drops, you find that internet access crawls and often you are faced with timeouts. You can replicate this by using 3G in a moving vehicle such as a train or a car.

If the signal strength can be increased this means that you can have greater reliability in using mobile data then you can now, which means you would be able to rely on it working rather than hoping it would work.

m-learning, mobile

Keeping the mobile out of the classroom, why?

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Keeping the mobile out of the classroom, why?

Here’s a question.

Does your institution ban mobile phones in the classroom? Does it just ban the use of mobile phones in the classroom? Or does it just ban the inappropriate use of mobile phones in the classroom?

Virtually everyone in the UK has a mobile phone these days, according to statistics there are more mobile phones then people – that I understand I usually carry two and have been known to carry three!

The reason for asking was this blog post and the comments below, about a school in the US which bans mobile phones and even uses metal scanners to detect them.

Students Pay a Price (Literally) for Cell Phone Ban

These students have phones, use them for communication, entertainment and social networking, but don’t use them for learning (as they are banned).

Now I realise like any teacher that a student using a phone inappropriately can disrupt a class and that’s a fair comment, but not a student can use a book to disrupt a class (throwing or dropping it (especially if it’s a big book)) but do we ban books?

A student can disrupt a class with a pencil and paper, do we ban those?

A student can disrupt a class with their voice, do we silence all students?

The key with any great learning process is the relationship between teacher and student, get that right and you are onto a winner.

Disruption happens with that relationship breaks down, not when a phone rings.

ipod touch, m-learning, mobile

Meme: Passion Quilt

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Well Steve Wheeler over at Learning with ‘E’s has set me up with a chain letter a challenge.

Right. It’s an interesting challenge and looks a little like a chain letter, but here goes. Mike Hasley, of TechWarrior Blog, has laid down a challenge for me and 4 others to add to a collection of photos that represent our passion in teaching/learning. I have to tag it ‘Meme: Passion Quilt’ and post it on a blog, Flickr, FaceBook or some other social networking tool with a brief commentary of why it is a passion for me.

My first thought was to ignore it, as I do not like chain letters and chain blog posts are not much better… however I did go and look at some of the photographs and the commentary.

So I have decided to take part, initially I didn’t know what image to use and then I remembered one I had taken on my mobile phone on my way to a meeting about mobile learning.

Passion Quilt

As I was on my way to the meeting with my pockets filled with a range of mobile devices sitting on the floor in the corridor was a student with an iPod touch watching a video. I asked him nicely and took his photograph.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a real passion for mobile learning and that though when other people mention mobile learning they automatically think about mobile technology, notably mobile computers, specifically Windows Mobile PDAs. For me it is a different philosophy, much more about learning when mobile.

It was walking around different colleges which made me realise that when it came to mobile learning, it wasn’t about getting PDAs running learning content (though I am sure there are scenarios which they would enhance and support learning), but was much more about using the devices our students already have.

So in my own college to see a learner happily using a mobile device in college gave me a real buzz.

As it happens this student was watching something not course related, but the fact that he had this device, was willing to carry it with him and was using it in college, made me realise how important it was to get mobile learning embedded into the college, as it should and will enhance and enrich the learning experience for a wide variety of learners.

I have a real passion for mobile learning and with designing learning scenarios and activities which allow learners to use their mobile devices and this photograph demonstrates to me why this is the direction we should be going along when we start to think about mobile learning.

The next part of this quilt is to challenge five others, well Steve has poached quite a few of the bloggers I know, but not all…

So I lay down the challenge to Lisa Valentine, Andy Black, Lilian, David Sugden and Dave Foord.

Maybe they will also take this challenge, or maybe you will.