ETI camcorder, correction

Thanks to the All About Symbian Nokia 3650 forum I was able to get feedback on the new version of ETI camera, directly from the developer. And it turns out that Handango were at fault for attaching the wrong version of the app to the 'Trial' button. So I've downloaded the real trial version and now I can record with it. What do I think? It bloody brilliant! This app is going to be huge. And as soon as it supports 3GPP (which they promise it will), I'm going to buy it :)

Price premiums under threat for handset vendors

This is a very good article from cellular-news questioning the sustainability of price premiums on the new advanced camera phones.

Recent uptake in advanced handsets, including those with color screens, cameras, Bluetooth, and high-speed application processors, are considered key to the future of the handset industry. While these features will drive revenue at the device- and chip-level, success still remains with mass-market adoption of these devices. The challenge lies in developing advanced devices that meet or exceed consumers' needs at sustainable price levels.

"The pitfall is if mass market adoption is achieved only through rapid price declines," warns ABI's Rerisi. He points to Verizon's new camera phone, the LG VX6000, which already carries a retail price of about US$150 after rebates, less than a month after its introduction; and Nokia's 3650, available for T-Mobile at zero cost through online retailers. "If these prices continue to erode in order to attract new consumers, it will undo all the benefits of upgrades," he concludes.

Fuji PhoneCam printer is shipping [via Boing Boing]

"Fuji is shipping a small color printer that communicates with phonecams via infrared to output mobile snaps. The Battery will hold for 100 prints. The small printer takes 15 seconds for one print. The NP-1 uses standard photo printer film: Fuji film instant color film instax mini (sizes: 86x54mm, 62x46mm). The Printer has a resolution of 10.0 dots/mm(254dpi) and 256 colors."

Toolkit for Actionable MMS Alerts

724 Solutions today announced a new toolkit that enables mobile operators and content providers to create and test multimedia messaging services (MMS) alerts. The MMS Content Provider Toolkit is an offering of downloadable design templates that allows content providers to create MMS alerts.

"To be successful, MMS services must offer a proliferation of attractive and relevant multimedia content to consumers," says John Sims, CEO of 724 Solutions. "The 724 MMS Content Provider Toolkit allows all content providers, regardless of their level of technical knowledge, to create and test MMS alerts in the shortest possible timeframe, and then the core X-treme MMS Alerts product facilitates the delivery of this content to consumers in a highly personalized way. This expanded offering will enable mobile operators to deliver attractive new services to their customers, resulting in higher average revenue per user.'"

Microsoft Moves on Mobiles

Microsoft will launch a new generation of its Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms this year, the company announced at the Mobility Developer Conference in Paris. It handed attendees software development kits for the new Pocket PC, code-named "Ozone," and referred to the new Smartphone as "v.Next."

The new generation platforms are based on a version 4.2 of Windows CE that features a re-engineered Pocket Internet Explorer, with support for XHTML, CSS, JScript 5.5, and the new standard Internet Protocol IPv6.

There's also integrated support for Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless. But the biggest new feature in both Ozone and v.Next is the .NET Compact Framework (CF) in ROM. This is a run-time layer that isolates applications from the operating system, managing memory and enforcing security. It should prevent buggy apps from crashing the device.

Ha! I'll believe it when I see it ;-)