Satnav watch links via text to handsets

Rating: Devices appears progammable for LBS

Here’s a way of accessing highly accurate location information with an ordinary mobile phone. A GPS/GSM capable wristwatch which doesn’t even require a Bluetooth connection – the GPS watch uses SMS instead. Better still no-one would know you’re carrying a GPS receiver because it looks like a normal digital watch.

MWC: Mobile browser Skyfire announces a major change of direction with Android and WebKit

In the world of mobile browsers, one of the fastest options is Skyfire. It’s an independent mobile browser, meaning that unlike the mobile versions of Opera or Firefox, it has no stable on-line version backing it up. In an interview at Mobile World Congress, Skyfire CEO Jeffrey Glueck told GoMo about a major shift in direction that will be coming our way soon. Not only is it releasing a version for Android, but it will be integrating elements from the open source WebKit browser engine.

MWC in Soft Focus: are mobile phones going biodegradable? Not really…

Two companies I’ve met so far at Mobile World Congress have been touting eco-friendly, biodegradable products for mobile phones. The first is an Irish iPhone-accessory company called Jivo Technology, and the second was UK-based Santok.

@MWC: Wholesale Applications Community to push apps to customers launched by mobile operators

Twenty-four leading telecommunications operators have formed the Wholesale Applications Community, an alliance to build an open platform that delivers applications to all mobile phone users.

Motorola splits for mobile home entertainment and advanced wireless networks

Motorola has been talking about dividing itself down the middle for quite some time now - the idea first surfaced about two years ago. At the time, it proposed one company for all things mobile, with everything else going into the other company. Now that it has announced a final plan, it’s a little different from that.

Don’t like your Android UI? Don’t worry, there’ll be another one in a minute.

Here’s a cool story about a new Android service. HipLogic is launching a service that will allow mobile operators and mobile makers to embed their own UI on Android devices they support - and to update those UIs over-the-air, as well as launch new ones. This story wouldn’t have had as much of an impact on me before today, but I was discussing the new Acer Liquid Android phone with a friend of mine this morning - and this service would be particularly great for that phone.

Like gadgets? How about this one: a helicopter you can fly with your iPhone!

There’s a massive gulf between “practical” and “incredibly cool”, and out of that gulf flies the AR.Drone from Parrot - a flying helicopter drone designed to be controlled from your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Cheap, useful mobile phones from Synchronica - function is more important than form

GoMo News has been following Synchronica for a long time now - mainly as a provider of mobile email services for extremely low-tech phones. But the company has kicked it up to the next level today, with the announcement of MessagePhones. Rather than just release cheap messaging services for low-tech phones, Synchronica has released two devices specially designed to take advantage of new, low-cost mobile messaging options.

Machine to machine communications could massively reduce mobile operator costs - according to Comarch, at least

Comarch is a service provider for operators - supporting and enabling new services. Today is pushing what it calls the M2M Platform for Mobile Operators. Essentially, this is a way of enabling the massive number of devices on an operator network to communicate with each other, taking a lot of the brunt away from the operator itself.

Google finally announces Customer Support for the Nexus One… prepare yourself for dissappointment

Way hey! I have to admit, I whooped out loud when I saw this story. Google made a few errors when it launched the Nexus One - but maybe the biggest one was fixed today, as it launched a specific customer support centre for the Nexus One. The lack of this service at launch was maybe the biggest cock-up the company could possibly have made. Why? Read on…

Nokia defends itself against invisible assailants - who has been a naughty boy?

Here’s a short but interesting story - Nokia has asserted that it will defend itself vigorously against a class-action complaint that was filed against it last Friday. Who are the accusers, and what is the case? Weeeeell…

Nokia going back to basics with simple C-Series mobile devices?

There’s a reason that Nokia is the biggest selling mobile manufacturer in the world. At a time when the world was undergoing a massive surge in demand for mobile phones, Nokia was selling simply, reliable and cheap handsets. Having taken a bit of a battering in the smartphone market, it seems to have gone back to the basics that made it money with the new C series.

Cool new mobile internet device runs on Android, connects your TV to your toaster

Inbrics is what I suppose you could call a “new media” company. It works very heavily on using Internet technology to make all of the screen-based devices in your house completely interconnected. By “screen-based”, I mean your phone, your TV and your computer. This isn’t exactly a new idea, but Inbrics is doing with some really sleek, sexy products. At the moment, it’s promoting its new Mobile Internet Device, the MID M1 - which was first revealed at CES and will be receiving a wider launch at Mobile World Congress.

Trial of true mobile payment begins in Shanghai

“Mobile payment” is a large category. It covers everything from using SMS to confirm your credit card in a retailer, to simply ordering an item over the mobile internet. But for me, the true meaning of “mobile payments” has always been to actually use your device as a payment method. Combining NFC with mobile devices, you could just wave your mobile over a reader at check-out to pay for your goods. This already works well with cards (like the Oyster card for the London Underground), and the same technology can simply be placed in your phone. Today, China Mobile and a Shanghai-based tech firm, SEIMMA Tech Co., have launched a mobile device payment trial in Shanghai.

Symbian lives up to its promise - the mobile OS is now really open source

By virtue of being installed on every Nokia smartphone in existence, Symbian is the most populous mobile operating system in the world. And the company maintained a very friendly, all-in-the-same-boat together appearance, with a lot of lip service paid to openness. But to get access to that open source code, you needed to pay your way into the Symbian Foundation. From today that is no longer true. Developers, start your engines. Symbian is now truly open source.

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