Good news! In hedgehogging this week, we found a lot of positive things to say about new apps and devices. And you thought we were just a bunch of disgruntled journalists. Maybe it’s the sugar high from all the Halloween candy brought into the office, but we are pretty upbeat about some of the new things to hit our desks.
If you are looking for skeptics, though, check out Mike Dano’s Worst of the Week column on RCRNews.com. Dano got a number of responses to his column complaining about lack of good TV on today’s mobile devices-and for the most part-unless the letter writer was directly involved in developing mobile TV-people aren’t sure mobile TV is a safe bet.
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Managing Editor Dan Meyer finally got a chance to fiddle with the Moto Krzr. Here’s his report: The design is way too cool for school; the touch-sensitive MP3 buttons on the outside are awesome and the slightly rubberized battery cover should be copied by everyone. But-and you knew that was coming-the mirror finish is a smudge-magnet that requires constant rubbing against clothes to keep clean. If this is done in public, it can look a bit odd. I’ve also seen bigger internal screens on free, prepaid phones. Definitely a slave to style.
Dan also spent some time with Samsung’s Trace: Although I’m not a candy-bar phone fan, I was amazed by the thinness of this handset and the overall feel was solid. Now only if Samsung can figure out a more intuitive way to lock and unlock the keypad-though dialing random numbers is a good way to make friends.
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While it might not be the next killer app, handset-based GPS navigation services are pretty sweet. RCR Wireless News reporter Colin Gibbs has recently written extensively about LBS. Having played around with navigation services from both Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, they are the walk-into-walls sweet. Verizon Wireless’ VZNavigator service has a cool option that picks up which way the phone is pointing, somehow calculates how fast the phone is moving and also shows altitude. Sprint Nextel’s turn-by-turn voice directions are a match for any in-car navigation service.
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It’s no surprise that the FCC decided to postpone voting on the proposed merger between AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. until after Tuesday’s election. That’s just politics as usual. But when the dust settles and the merger approved, there probably won’t be too many more concessions forced upon the telephone company.
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Here’s a quote from the saddest press release of the week: “Fans who pick up Flavor Flav’s newest album from Wal-Mart” (that in and of itself is tear-jerking) will receive a code to enter at www.oasysmobile.com/flavorflav to collect their free content, as well as view other exclusive Flavor Flav content for purchase. The free content includes an authentic Flavor Flav Voicetone and a Flavor Flav wallpaper.” Some of us are so not this target demographic.
