At Nokia Connection ‘09, the Philippine delegation took part in the Ovi Race, which was basically the easiest way to allow the media to experience the GPS and Maps functionality of Ovi. This photo was taken at the Singapore Merlion where the team had to do a creative pose. The more creative the direction, the more points you’d get. So this is us taking a water break.

We had to upload the photo to the Share on Ovi site using the built in widgets on the two Nokia phones issued to us, the N97 and N86.

Photo taken by our group.

Post from: Cellphone9

The Bad news: We’ve found an instance of plagiarism in the reports. One of our Ambassadors pointed it out to us in an e-mail message. We looked into it with the legal team, and we’re sorry to say that we’ve confirmed that one Ambassador has copied another’s text and submitted the report. Our policy for something like this is ZERO TOLERANCE. The offending Ambassador will be kicked out of the program and his snail mail address black-listed. Needless to say he/she will not be eligible for any rewards in any campaigns. [source]

The Ambassador Program is a word of mouth initiative that takes in S60 enthusiasts and brings them together to experience everything about the S60 platform. Participants earn points when they submit meaningful experiences which allow them access to exclusive perks from the S60 development team.

Post from: Cellphone9

We’ve experienced some server wonkyness for the past several hours. It was a little serious but we’ve got things back up and running. Please pardon the template glitches – at least we got the content up and running! Stay tuned for more cellphone news!

Post from: Cellphone9

In this issue of FlashBack Friday, we look back one year ago to the launch of the Nokia N95.

A year ago I wrote the following about the Nokia N95:

The N95 is one of those gadgets that will help tip the point into a seamless mobile data accessibility, whether through HSDPA or WiFi or through simpler functions like push email. Truth be told, with consumers willing to shell out the same amount of money they would have spent for a laptop – for a mobile phone, it does say something about the value proposition of a smaller device.

One year ago, we had mobile phones that weren’t Windows Mobile smartphones skyrocketing in price to bring home the idea of everything in your pocket. There are two paradigms to this reality. Either the phones get to do more things, or the laptops become smaller and more affordable. And from the looks of it, the latter seems to be the viable option. With Intel introducing the Atom chips, the dawn of the ultra light notebook beckons. Though it is true that the new phones can approximate the practicality of the laptop, for some reason the mindset of consumers is that phones should still be used for making calls, primarily.

What do you think, dear readers? There seems to be a sweet spot somewhere but maybe manufacturers are too scared to face the bitter reality (pun intended) of the new market.

Post from: Cellphone9

As a cellphone geek who’s been traveling around the neighboring Asian countryside I’ve developed an eccentricity to never put my phone on roaming. Instead I’d always buy a “souvenir” SIM card from each country (Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia) and put it on my open-line phone. I dunno, it seems more rustic that way.

In my travels (heh, always wanted to say that), the common denominator with phone brands would always seem to be the Nokias and Samsungs topping the charts. Developing countries also have a fascination for the cheaper “Bird” branded phones as well as the fake Nokla and other innovative China-made phones which the West has really never seen before.

Post from: Cellphone9

Months ago, LG launched the cheapest 3G phone. Last week, Motorola launched the cheapest music phone. We’ve also seen a relatively cheap mobile TV phone as well. For smartphones we have the Palm Centro.

So, any thoughts on the next cheapest technology? I’d personally want the cheapest BlackBerry device with WiFi.

Post from: Cellphone9

I’m giving away three copies of any mobile platform game from eSoft Interactive for the top three names you can give for the new “next gen” cellphone or smartphone.

Here are the mechanics:

All you need to do is leave a comment with your entry – a catchy name which you think will be a big marketing hit for the next great cellphone. You don’t have to explain why you chose that name, but that would be cool as well.

Please enter a valid email address so that in case you win, it will be easy to contact you.

You can send in an unlimited number of entries until March 5 2008.

There will be three winners chosen by me.

Post from: Cellphone9

First off, Happy Valentines’ Day to my readers. Yeah yeah, I’m not really one to celebrate because of how commercialized it gets. You can obviously tell that part of the commercialization is manifested in the rise of pink-ed mobile phones:

The Pink LG Venus
Pink BlackBerry Pearl
Pink and Purple K770i

Well and good. I’d like to shy away from gadgets first and talk about sharing your most creative way of affirming your love with your special someone. From something as simple as a SMS message or a video call via 3G to show your love, we must admit that mobile phones have really helped us go the extra mile when it comes to thinking of something “romantic” to do. I know of couples who save their milestone SMS messages from 2 or 3 years back – the day they got together, their first “I love you’s” through text and the first reconciliation via the same medium as well.

On the bleak side, we also see a lot of breakups happening through SMS. Sad really, but I guess this goes with the generation and yeah, maybe I’m considered an oldie who grew up in the 80’s (I think we’re old by that right haha!). I’m not one to give good advice on love, but for today, I hope that we all become more sensitive to our loved ones and realize that a gesture, no matter how small, counts. That’s partly why cellphones exist.

Happy Hearts Day!

Post from: Cellphone9

A step up from the Nokia N95, the N96 comes packed with more memory that makes the N95 8GB look half as good. The N96 comes packed with 16GB of internal memory. One of the complaints from the N95 8GB was that the 3.5mm socket was located in an odd place. The new N96 fixes this problem by putting the socket on the top of the unit. Another huge plus is a stand which you can kick out to make the N96 hold itself upright when you’re watching those long movies. Cool.

So what was the 8GB N95 all about? I guess it was a market filler for what was to come in the next few months. There was around more than half a year delay between the N95 and the N96 and in between that we must remember that Nokia revealed their new Ovi interface. The 8GB device was definitely a filler.

Post from: Cellphone9

… and Motorola’s was rather funky in script. Neatorama has an interesting find identifying the evolution of tech brand logos. It’s interesting to note that Motorola has always been in the technology industry – radios to be specific. And Nokia had its roots in the manufacturing industry. Nokia still makes its tires I assume from where they originate.

Interesting to note as well that the rumor of Motorola’s leaving the phone industry is a backlash into their corporate competence while Nokia is still at the forefront of phones. Irony, really.

Post from: Cellphone9