Remote-Control Your Car with Your Mobile Phone

I have to admit, those dramatic commercials about people in distress being remotely helped by OnStar Advisors sometimes make me wish I bought a GM car. I mean, shouldn't all cars come with emergency assistance, hands-free calling, and services to locate my stolen vehicle? And now, GM is upping the ante for mobile (in both senses of the word) enthusiasts with OnStar smartphone apps, starting with the Chevrolet Volt. The Google-enhanced app can start your car, turn on the lights or activate the horn (in case you can't remember where you parked), and also check auto maintenance needs like fuel level and remaining oil life -- from your iPhone, Droid, or BlackBerry Storm. I'm not a car buff, but the OnStar Mobile App is pretty cool and likely a big help for serious road warriors who are GM customers.
Now that you can use your smartphone as a car starter, to pay for purchases at retail, and as a key for your hotel room, it may be time to wonder, is there anything you can't (or won't soon be able to) do with a smartphone?

Free Mobile Phone Calls - Vonage joins Skype & Fring

Friday August 6, 2010

Vonage recently announced a new mobile application that will allow smartphone users to make free phone calls over Wi-Fi or 3G to their Facebook friends (who also have the app installed). Add the "Vonage Mobile Application for Facebook" to other VoIP mobile apps like Skype Mobile, Google Voice, and Fring, and suddenly it seems silly to pay for mobile calls at all. With everyone (businesses and consumers) looking to cut costs these days, free mobile talk time is definitely advantageous. Here's what you need to know about these mobile VoIP apps:

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Nokia rolls out Dual SIM Mobile Phones: C1-00 C1-01 C1-02 and C2

With the World going Dual SIM, means you can have two connections on same handset, Nokia too introduces a range of Dual SIM Mobile phones in the market. They are all of C series, although C series is not at all new for us because we have already seen Nokia C3 and Nokia C5. All these 4 phones are entry level handsets with satisfying basic need at affordable cost.

So, Nokia understands our needs. I think they may have taken this step to cover up emerging market of Dual SIM Mobiles in country like India. Although, Nokia doesn’t stands anywhere when we talk about smartphones where HTC and Apple are leading this segment. No matter, there is still a potential market to grab up of low-end configuration mobiles.



These new Phones are namely C1-00 (1750 INR) C1-01 (Rs. 2200) C1-02 (Rs 2500) and C2 (Rs. 2850) Don’t expect any lavish features in these mobiles as they are made to offer basic functionality like FM Radio, Color Screen, Flash Light and Send Messages.
Nokia C1-00 overview

A simple phone to make calls and send text messages, flashlight, FM radio and a super battery up to 6 weeks of use. Estimated price of Rs. 1750
Nokia C1-01 and C1-02 overview

The C1-01 C1-02 are very similar phones, the C1-01 includes FM radio, microSD card slot and a VGA resolution camera. C1-02 well, with FM radio, microSD card slot and VGA camera, but also has Bluetooth, Ovi Mail and Chat.
Nokia C2 overview

It’s the most expensive in this range leaving about Rs. 2850, double SIM, with the tools of Life Tools Ovi, Ovi Ovi Mail and Chat, FM radio, microSD card slot, VGA camera, Bluetooth and a battery that Nokia says lasts up to 16.5 days of use.
Nokia Dual SIM Mobiles Availability

They are all scheduled to be launched in the year end of 2010

What do you think? Will these Mobiles prove to be success when other mobile manufacturers are providing low end configuration phones at cheap prices in India already?

Second generation Digital networks

In the 1990s, the 'second generation' (2G) mobile phone systems emerged, primarily using the GSM standard. These 2G phone systems differed from the previous generation in their use of digital transmission instead of analog transmission, and also by the introduction of advanced and fast phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of 2G was explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones

In 1991 the first GSM network (Radiolinja) opened in Finland. In general the frequencies used by 2G systems in Europe were higher than those in America, though with some overlap. For example, the 900 MHz frequency range was used for both 1G and 2G systems in Europe, so the 1G systems were rapidly closed down to make space for the 2G systems. In America the IS-54 standard was deployed in the same band as AMPS and displaced some of the existing analog channels.

Coinciding with the introduction of 2G systems was a trend away from the larger "brickle" phones toward tiny 100–200g hand-held devices, which soon became the norm. This change was possible through technological improvements such as more advanced batteries and more energy-efficient electronics, but also was largely related to the higher density of cellular sites caused by increasing usage levels. This decreased the demand for high transmission powers to reach distant towers for customers to be satisfied.

Personal Handy-phone System mobiles and modems used in Japan around 1997–2003

The second generation introduced a new variant to communication, as SMS text messaging became possible, initially on GSM networks and eventually on all digital networks. The first machine-generated SMS message was sent in the UK on 3 December 1992. The first person-to-person SMS text message was sent in Finland in 1993. Soon SMS became the communication method of preference for the youth. Today in many advanced markets the general public prefers sending text messages to placing voice calls.

2G also introduced the ability to access media content on mobile phones, when Radiolinja (now Elisa) in Finland introduced the downloadable ring tone as paid content. Finland was also the first country where advertising appeared on the mobile phone when a free daily news headline service on SMS text messaging was launched in 2000, sponsored by advertising.

The first data services appeared on mobile phones starting with person-to-person SMS text messaging in Finland in 1993. First trial payments using a mobile phone to pay for a Coca Cola vending machine were set in Finland in 1998. The first commercial payments were mobile parking trialled in Sweden but first commercially launched in Norway in 1999. The first commercial payment system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999 simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart. The first content sold to mobile phones was the ringing tone, first launched in 1998 in Finland. The first full internet service on mobile phones was introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999.