Welcome to World Tech Update, I'm Martyn Williams and this week we're coming to you from Barcelona
in Spain and Mobile World Congress. It's the annual get together of the world's cell phone
industry and the big news this week has been new cell phones and new operating systems.
In particular, Microsoft's preview of Windows Phone 7 Series, the new version of Windows
Mobile.
The new OS represents a complete rewrite and redesign of Windows Mobile.
The home screen consists of "live tiles," icons that update with information from the
Internet. Six of the tiles lead to what Microsoft calls hubs -- menu areas that collect together
data based around functions.
For example, the people hub consolidates phone contacts, friends on Facebook and Windows
Live, e-mail addresses and information about these people. Phone numbers, mail addresses
and social media status updates. Another hub does the same for images.
"I'm going to touch the pictures tile right here and navigate in. And this part of the
hub is the gallery, where I can view all of the pictures that are available for me to
view on my phone. I'm going to pan to the right, and the phone has picked the latest
gallery of pictures that I have synced from my PC or that I have taken with the phone
camera so they are available for quick viewing. I'm going to pan to the right and again, a
what's new feed that shows all of the activity of my friends as it relates to photos."
Windows Mobile has been showing its age in recent years and the new OS steps up competition
against rivals like Apple and Google.
"I'm enthusiastic about the direction in which we're heading. It's a step, it's a big step
but together inside Microsoft and the best talent we have a chance to work with at companies
like Orange and AT&T and others, I think we really have a chance to have a major impact
on the market."
Nokia and Intel announced plans to merge their mobile operating systems together into MeeGo,
the Linux-based open OS that will be targeted at everything from cell phones to set top
boxes.
"MeeGo blends the very best of Moblin and Maemo software into one, Linux-based computing
platform."
The first version of MeeGo will ship during the second quarter and is targeted at much
more than just phones.
"MeeGo will be targeting a wide range of devices. This includes possible mobile computing devices,
as well as netbooks, tablets, connected TVs, media phones, and in-vehicle infotainment
systems.
This wouldn't be Mobile World Congress without lots and lots of new cell phones. A couple
of the big announcements for the week; Sony Ericsson had new versions of its Xperia X10
cell phone.
Size is what sets these two Android-based phones apart. The X10mini comes in two versions,
one with a QWERTY keyboard and one without, and will start shipping in some markets outside
the U.S. in the second quarter. U.S. launch plans are yet to be decided. The Xperia X10
mini will cost about 350 (US$475) and the pro version about 20 Euros more.
Sony Ericsson has put just four application buttons on the small screen, one in each corner,
to make them as easy to reach as possible.
"You have four corners, and just with your thumb, you can use all the functionality of
the product."
The phones also have Timescape, Sony Ericsson's application for keeping track of text messages,
missed calls, and Facebook and Twitter updates.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of competition for the attention of journalists here and
exactly the same time as Sony Ericsson's press conference, Samsung was unveiling Wave, a
phone based on its Bada platform.
The phone's most eye-catching feature is a 3.3-inch OLED screen that offers richer colors
than the LCD screens found on many other cell phones. The screen is protected by a piece
of tempered glass that has an anti-smudge coating so users shouldn't have to spend too
much time cleaning off fingerprints.
The S8500 Wave will cost 320 Euros (US$435) and will begin shipping in April in Europe,
and then in most other parts of the world in May. However, availability in the U.S.
is still yet to be decided.
And during a Mobile World Congress keynote, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said it has plans
to put Flash into Google's Android operating system. With it, the company's hoping to get
a leg up over Apple which doesn't include Flash in the iPhone and Microsoft which won't
have Flash in Windows Phone 7 Series which ships later this year.
So what I want to give you a sneak preview of today is Flash running on Android and here
you see an image that many of you a probably familiar with: The New York Times. But as
you scroll around you can see that all of the components are there including the videos
and I just want to zoom in here. Take a look at this video of a logger and why don’t
we start playing that video. So one tap.
Now the New York Times demo never did run properly but we did see Flash in another demonstration
so we know that it was in the phone. Cell phones haven't been the only thing in the
news this week and Nick is in Boston with the rest of the week's news. Nick...
Thanks, Martyn.
We’ll start with a new concept car announced by Swiss auto tuner Rinspeed that it plans
for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show in March. The UC or Urban Commuter is a small, 2.6 meter
electric vehicle designed for city driving. According to Rinspeed, drivers can expect
a range of around 105 kilometers and a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour. 50 kilometers
of driving will take around 2 hours of charging, or 20 minutes on a higher voltage outlet.
In place of a steering wheel, drivers will find a force feedback joystick connected to
a drive by wire system. The cockpit is centered around a large 3G-enabled touch screen computer
that supports Voice over IP, video chat and email. For longer trips out of the city, drivers
can book train passage for their UC right from the 3G dashboard. While Rinspeed said
it would like to bring the car to market, they haven’t announced any plans.
The 2010 Toy Fair was on this week in New York City and here’s a quick look at some
of the coolest stuff we say. First up we saw the Shirt Guitar from Think Geek…
(music)
Wow, that’s pretty amazing, how does that work?
There’s a little magnet within this pick and there’s a detector here around the pick
ups and it detects every time you past he pick over top of it and buttons just determine
which cord is played when you strum.
(music)
The shirt lets you play all major chords and included is a mini guitar amp that clips to
your belt. The shirt goes for $30 and is available now.
Next up is the Spy Video Trackr which is a remote control car that relays video and audio
back to the remote. It captures and records VGA video, has nightvision and motion detection,
but is also completely open source and completely programmable.
So they can go to our program modulator and tweak and modify apps that already exist or
they can completely build their own. We’re going to have a development kit that takes
them through the programming language. It will be in C and C++ and once they make their
apps there’s going to be an online community where they can post them and there’s no
charge to download other peoples apps, we’re not monetizing off that.
The Spy Video Tracker will hit shelves in October for 120 dollars.
That’s all from me in Boston. I’ll be on vacation next week so Martyn will be on
again though I may be making a special appearance so stay tuned. For now it’s back to Barcelona.
Thank you Nick. That's all the time we have for you this week, but come back to World
Tech Update next week and we'll be taking a look at some of the other cell phones that
were unveiled at Mobile World Congress. And then in a couple of weeks we're on the road
again in Germany at CEBIT, so watch out for that. But on behalf of everyone at the IDG
News Service, I'm Martyn Williams saying thanks for watching and goodbye from Barcelona in
Spain.