xseries

w950i is go!

Hi all. While we don't usually do "official" statements on the X-Series blog, we wanted to provide one given the many, many questions asked regarding the Sony Ericsson W950i, one of the original handsets announced as part of the global launch of X-Series.

3 UK writes: After rigorous testing with the full suite of X-Series applications, we are now ready to release the w950i as a handset which is X-Series capable.

Given that a key part of the X-Series philosophy is to ensure a great user experience out of the box across all applications, we have been determined to ensure we can guarantee this on the W950i. The W950i is an excellent Walkman handset and also has the capacity to handle a variety of mobile internet applications.

Our concern has been that it is able to sustain a stable environment on the handset when pre-loaded with all the X-Series applications from 3. It has taken a little longer than we all had hoped, but this is pioneering stuff, right?!! And we are now satisfied that we can launch it as a full X-Series handset.

So, there you have it.

Some of you will have noticed that the w950i is already being made available in 3Stores in the UK and those of you who have already bought into it will still be able to download and run the X-Series applications as part of our soon to be expanded mobile internet offer.

The X-Series represents a leap forward in terms of the access opportunities it creates to the mobile internet. It also demands the sustained use of multiple applications on one handset. When we launched the X-Series we committed to providing the best of the mobile internet from 3.

We must be fair to our customers and our handset and software partners and we would not want to promote a handset as an X-Series device until we were confident it can do the job for all of us; outside the demo shop in the hand of the 3 customer.

By the way, when you get a chance, check out the quick-launch menu we've put on the handset - it gives you quick access to your favourite X-Series services.

Finally, we'd like to thank Sony Ericsson for their understanding and commitment to our joint vision of bringing feature-rich mobile internet services into the mobile world. It's no walk in the park, but we wouldn't be pushing the boundaries if it was.

G'Day X-Series!

3 Australia has launched X-Series and joins the family along with the UK, Sweden, Denmark and Hong Kong.

Well done to everyone down under!

If you're in Oz and want to get hold of X-Series check out the local site. You'll find info on pricing, handsets and the great services that are part of the X-Series.

We hope the launch means we get lots of new Aussie activity here on the X-Series blog. Check out this post if you want to get more involved and/or join the Virtual X-Series beta test panel we are setting up to help us test new software and services.

Where to find X-Series from 3 Aussie style on the web: http://xseries.three.com.au/xseries/

Welcome!

//de

The humble about page

It sits there at the top of the left hand navigation of our blog (well, just below email, actually).

But how many people actually read it? Who knows? But you should. Why? Because it contains everything you'd ever want to know about the X-Series blog, what it's about, how you can contribute and shape the blog's future, and how you can get in touch with your local 3 country site if you have any questions.

Go on, give it a click. You know you want to.

Beta testers wanted!

We’re after people to help provide feedback on current X-Series services and provide input into future ones. To qualify, you simply need to be an existing X-Series customer and have a desire to help us shape the future of the mobile internet ... wow, sounds a bit like a job ad!

There’s no money involved … hmm, not a job ad after all ;-) … but you will get to put new software and services through their paces and chat with us from time to time about what you think of them.

If you’re based in London or thereabouts, you’ll be invited to our offices every so often (no more than two or three times a year at a time that suits you). If you’re not in London we still want your help and you’ll become part of a virtual team of beta testers/panelists.

To apply just send us 20-50 words on why you want to help shape the mobile internet. Send it via email to blog.xseries@three.com or reply to this post now. We’ll get in touch if you’re successful.

// de

Motion-sensing mobiles

As reported in today’s New York Times, Wii motion technology is likely to be integrated into many new mobile phones, in the not so distant future.

It’s predicted that in a year or so, handsets will be available with motion sensors, allowing the phone to function as a mouse, for example. A tilt to the left or right will let you scroll through the menu.  Or, if the phone is resting face-down, a sensor will switch the power to low, to conserve battery power.

Though the applications are in development at the moment, Invensense - the company behind the technology  - have high hopes. The New York Times reports, “Invensense are taking the technology a step further by combining three-axis accelerometers with gyroscopes, which measure rotation speed, to create even-more accurate sensors that could be used to improve photo stabilization and location and navigation services.”

Some handsets are already available in South Korea and Japan, where phones can double as controllers for games. 

Predictions for this development have been aired before (see Dean Bubley’s blog) and now it looks like the technology is beginning to catch up. 

Watch this space.

//lw

Framed

We’ve been enjoying a little springtime culture here, at the X-Series blog.  A visit to the Monet exhibition yesterday, and now onto the Banksy show at the weekend – very enriching. 

Ok, so we’re not exactly in the same league as the above, but every now and again we think that there’s a picture snapped with our mobiles that’s worth displaying.  As luck would have it, via a little Bluetooth technology, we can send it straight to be framed.

As reported via 14U, French Company Parrot introduces a wireless digital photo frame. You can transfer photos straight from your Bluetooth mobile phone onto the picture frame.

We’ll wait for the RA to call us.

//lw

Where are we all going?

There’s little doubt that our relationship with technology is changing.  Predominantly, it’s our need for efficiency that drives the development for smaller, faster gadgets, and we adapt to using new interfaces with ease as these meet our expectations.

Back in February we wrote about the latest exhibition at Baltimore’s Contemporary Museum – which collected the work of artists and designers who seek to make us stop and think a little more about the ways we now expect to communicate.

London-based Troika are leading this exploration in the UK.  As reported in PingMag,

“We like to challenge the conventions a little bit, and the way things are perceived. Also, we try to create what we feel has been lost from products; a subjectivity and a narrative…we try to take the efficiency of what we have now, and combine it with that creativity and magic we had previously.”

Troika’s MS Guerilla Projector takes SMS technology and subverts the idea that our texts are for our eyes only. The projector contains a mobile phone which enables the device to receive and project messages from other people – placing them out of context.

“Its unpredictability creates a very special and disturbing experience for the people who watch the projection, and invites them to reflect on the content or the implications of the message.”

Their Tool for Armchair Activists offers a modern alternative to the speaker's corner, and saves you the hassle of sitting in the rain, waiting for your favourite MP to pass by.  The machine is able to receive incoming text messages and speak them out loud through its powerful megaphone.  Troika recently used this for MTV Europe Music Awards – where passersby sent messages about anything but the MTV event.

Subversive?  Thought-provoking?  Make your own mind up as Troika are currently exhibiting at the Science Museum in London, as part of the Science of Spying Exhibition, and they have a large and very secret installation hitting London in September. As PingMag says, ‘You have been warned…’

//lw

Do it for charidee…

Can you believe that Red Nose Day has been part of the UK's grand comic tradition for almost 20 years? Each year the Comic Relief folk succeed in raising millions of pounds for disadvantaged people in Africa and the UK simply by encouraging us, the public, to dress up, lie in baths of beans, and wear red noses (though not always at the same time).

Much of this fun is reported on the live BBC Comic Relief shows, but this year our pals over at MoblogUk have teamed up with Comic Relief to create a mobile blog which is capturing and sharing as many Red Nose experiences as possible.

Alfie Dennen, Marketing Director of moblogUK technology sent as a missive in which he says: "We’re very pleased to have created this moblog for Comic Relief; at once it shows that mobile blogging is something that absolutely anyone can easily do. It provides an online space where absolutely everyone can engage in a visible, instant way with the Comic Relief Red Nose Day campaign.

“Getting your pictures and video posted to the moblog from your mobile is easy, just text them to 60300 with the word 'nose' somewhere in the message.”

What are you waiting for?  Get thee to Sainsbury’s or Oxfam, buy your red nose, send in your picture, and join Goldfrapp, Maximo Park, Bloc Party and Girl’s Aloud on the moblog.

And don't forget to smile, it’s all for charidee.

//lw

Girls and mobiles

An interesting report on mobile phone manufacturers use of public relations photography and their relation to the success or otherwise of a particular model has just been published.

The researchers at tagmonkey.com have produced a report tracking 200 photographs used by manufacturers to promote their mobiles. The report asks: what is best for the success of a mobile -- photos with more girls and more phones, or photos of more phones with less girls or any combination of the two.

The photographs were collected over a two year period and the analysis draws some conclusions as you can see from the chart to the right (click to enlarge).

For more information, go to tagmonkey to download the report. As always, we're interested to hear your views on this or any other subject.

//de

Mobile: the new mass media

And while we're in list mode, here's something I found at All About Mobile Life (which found it at Communities Dominate Brands, a great blog based on the book by Tomi Ahonen and Alan Moore). The post calls mobile the 7th Mass Media, and outlines five interesting traits not possible in any of the previous 6. These are:

• The mobile is personal.
• The mobile is the first always-on mass media.
• The mobile is the first always-carried mass media.
• The mobile is the first mass media with a built-in payment mechanism.
• Mobile uniquely offers the media audience the input tool, at the point of creative impulse.

As the post author Tomi says, mobile is the least understood and potential most powerful of all mass media because of the above - esp when you realise 7 out of 10 sleep with their mobiles within arms length ... although that may be because the mobile alarm clock may be the killer app ;-)

It's an interesting read. Take a look and decide for yourself.
// de