I checked my notes, and yes, indeed – it was a familiar topic. The visions of 2015 was not just a promotional video of cool things that will somehow come about in 6 years.

It is actually a visualization  of the stuff Nokia research labs, and some of it’s partners, are working hard to bring about. They have been doing it from 2006, at least.   And have the patent apps to prove that.

One of them, called “BIONETS architecture for building services capable of self-evolution” became public recently .

It describes:

“… the development of one or more flexible architectures that can support service creation/development and provisioning in addition to self-evolution. Therefore, various embodiments allow for continued self learning, customization and adjustment of BIONETS services to the needs and expectations of users in accordance with characteristics such as those exhibited by biological organisms, for example, the ability to continuously adopt itself to an ever-changing environment “

The basic idea behind BIONETS architecture,  is to split the actual services into a small components called “service primitives”. Those service primitives are combined into an actual service by “Expert/Decision making manager” module. Mobile devices have a BIONETS enabled client software which tracks service usage by individual users.

The tracking includes the steps user made to access the service, activities he performed just prior to it, the duration it took to perform the operations, whether the action was completed, etc;. Aggregating this data from a big number number of devices, the Expert/Decision making module can derive optimal service usage patterns and underperforming service primitives. Then it can automatically reconfigure the service primitives used to provide the actual service to fit user needs better. Or even create new services from observing the people use their devices, without intervention  of the service provider.

One simple example of such a service could be a stock ticker application:

“User may utilize a “stock ticker” service that provides the user with periodic or constant updates which inform the user of a particular stock’s value at a given time. The stock ticker service may evolve by monitoring the user’s interaction with the stock ticker service. For example, it may be noticed that the user oftentimes will execute a calculator application in parallel with the stock ticker service and utilize that calculator to multiply stock values by a certain number (e.g., the number of stocks held by the user). After observing this behavior of executing the calculator application in parallel with the stock ticker service a pre-determined number of times, the stock ticker service can undergo self-evolution by deciding to improve the services it provides by embedding calculator functionality and a corresponding UI in its stock ticker service. Moreover, the stock ticker service may by default, automatically multiply a given stock’s value by the earlier observed value representing the number of stocks held by the user, thus preempting the need for the user to manually perform the multiplication operation herself.”

That’s just one, and relatively simple application. Combining self-evolution capable services  with a widely spread passive and active sensors, and millions of exceedingly capable mobile devices, might lead us to that  future of  those “truly unique user experiences, from highly local traffic reports, to global weather trends..” Nokia was talking about in 2015 video.

But that’s for 2015.

For 2010 I’ll settle for a real improvement of OVI services, so all of them are well integrated,  work seamlessly and intuitively on my next Nokia device.

The BIONETS architecture is a part of a bigger 6.9 million EUR BIONETS research project financed by European Comission Framework program, that has been running since 2006. It involves multiple partners, including Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Telecom Italia and a number of European research institutes and Universities.

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Well, actually,  the rumors about the upcoming Apple tablet have been flying around for years now. Some people even doubt that a mythical Apple tablet will ever be created.

But the crescendo of rumors from various sources these past few months, strongly reminds me of the situation we had with an iPhone, few months before it’s announcement. So I think Apple Tablet will show up pretty soon now.

And to pour some more fire into the Apple Tablet rumor mill, we have a new patent application by Apple. Which talks about improved digital ink recognition techniques for …you got it… a pen-aware tablet.

To tell the truth, the patent app has little to do with a tablet computer per se. It’s mostly concerned how to make digital ink recognition/interpretation process better, especially when filling out various forms. And it achieves that by trying to recognize full ink phrases, instead of a separate ink strokes:  The ink manager collects separate ink strokes, determines when a whole phrase have been entered and passes that phrase to handwriting recognition engine.

But the magic word “tablet” is all around the patent app, so I thought I’ll bring it up here.

And natural, intuitive, and well implemented pen input in a tablet device, could be one of the more attractive features of such Apple gadget, whenever it launches.

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Samsung is developing TouchWiz, LG has S-Class, Nokia has S60 5th edition (Now Symbian^1) and Maemo 5, Sony Ericsson has their panels, even Acer has come up with it’s own UI for the new smartphones.

However, one of the most interesting and innovative companies in the field is HTC. They were the first to skin Windows Mobile with advanced TouchFlo UI. Later that became an even better ToucFlo 3D. And, just a few months ago, they transformed that into an even more advanced HTC Sense UI, which is easily, one of the best touch interfaces out there.

But HTC is not sitting still, and seems to be at work on a new generation of touch UI, organized as a virtual book:

Described in HTC patent application,  called “Electronic device and user interface display method thereof”, the book like UI:

organizes applications, widgets, and web pages into pages of a virtual book. Each page of the virtual book is the UI of a service or function of the handheld electronic device. Flipping the pages of the virtual book means browsing and selecting the services and functions provided by the handheld electronic device. This book-like UI enables the user to use and manage these applications, widgets, and web pages in an easy and intuitive way like browsing a conventional printed book. The book-like UI hides the differences among applications, widgets, and web pages so that the handheld electronic device can be accessed through a uniform and convenient UI.

The virtual book UI is pretty flexible and customizable, allowing carriers or service providers to add their services, programs and widgets, as additional pages in a book.

The idea sounds pretty interesting. At least on paper. I wonder how all this flipping through pages will work in real life.

Still, HTC already proved that they can design and implement some great touch interfaces, so the book style touch UI might turn up just as good, if/when HTC decides to release a new mobile device with it.

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• Sony Ericsson’s Mobile Phone/Universal Remote Control
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• Nokia patents a dedicated gaming console/phone idea
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Nokia is no exception here.

While Symbian based Nokia touch handsets might still be lagging behind the competition, their Maemo 5 based  N900 shows, that Nokia has finally learned how to make a really good touch based mobile device. The next version, due sometime next year promises to be even better.

Meanwhile, Nokia R&D labs are already looking beyond multi-touch.

In this patent application, Nokia is exploring  a 3D multi-touch interface for the mobile devices, that reacts not only to your finger movements, but also to the strength with which your finger is pressing the screen.

The 3D multi-touch interface is enabled via a combination of capacitive touch screen and a number of force sensors, that are able to measure the force you press the screen with, and also the direction of that force as you move a finger on a touchscreen display.

The actual implementation of this technology might be pretty far off, but a device with a well implemented 3D multi-touch interface,  coupled with the Nokia haptikos tactile touchscreen, we’ve seen cooking in their R&D labs, might be really something.

When it comes out eventually.

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• Apple is looking beyond Multi-Touch
• Blackberry patents: Angled Slider and RIM Multi-Touch technology
• Next Nokia touch smartphone to come with capacitive touchscreen and multi-touch?
• Samsung SCH V960 Optical Joystick phone. How does it work?

Of course, the company everyone’s watching most closely is Apple. And they do not disappoint us. 2 new interesting iPhone software patent applications surfaced today, with some features that could be a very cool addition in the next iPhone OS/firmware update.

The first patent app is called “Auto messaging to currently connected caller” and describes ways to do some additional things,  while you are talking to someone on the phone. Things like writing a person an SMS message at the same time, sending him an e-mail, address book contact info, or any other file.

Pretty simple stuff.  Describing the things we do without thinking on our PC while engaged in a Skype call. And where most of the modern smartphones come lacking.

It pisses me of, when a friend calls and asks someone’s contact info, and then I have to hang up, look it up and send it via SMS. And why do I have to do that?  What’s wrong with keeping the call session open, giving me easy access the usual UI elements, and then giving me an easy way to use other messaging app to communicate with a person I am talking to?

I’m really looking forward to this feature. Of course, to run several apps at once, iPhone OS will have to be able to multitask… Well, not really, Apple can always cheat and make multitasking available only for it’s own messaging apps.

And speaking about messaging the person you are talking to, you also will have to use a built-in speakerphone, since it might be a bit difficult to type an SMS with iPhone at your ear…

And this is what a second iPhone software patent app is about – “Speakerphone Control for Mobile Device “.

It’s not that it’s that hard to turn on the speakerphone manually when you need it. On most modern handsets you can do it with one or two clicks. But Apple still wants to make the whole process automatic, and use various sensors present in an iPhone for it.

Some of them are pretty simple, like deactivating speakerphone, when you put an iPhone to your ear with a hint from proximity sensor. Others are a bit, and, sometimes, a lot more complicated – like measuring your voice volume, device position/orientation, determining time of day, using pressure/temperature sensors to see if a device is in your hand, and even checking it’s location via GPS to decide when to activate/deactivate your speakerphone.

Most of this sounds like a bit of an overkill, (what’s wrong  with simply pressing “Speakerphone On/Off” button on display?), and will never make it into an actual software update. But some simple improvements might be welcome.

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It’s called “Consumer abuse detection system and method” and is meant to help Apple service reps to see whether the broken device you brought in was your fault or Apple’s.

To do that, Apple proposes placing a number of sensors that can detect liquid, thermal changes, shocks and tampering inside the device. Those sensors then record any occurrence of the “abuse” events – like dropping, drowning or burning your iPhone – onto memory chip, and make this info available to the service center staff.

Looks like an interesting approach, which, if implemented, can help Apple reduce  bogus warranty service claims.

And,  incidentally, help them rebut those stories about  iPods and iPhones exploding for no good reason, that get so much attention from the press.

Like that stupid story about exploding iPod, that ruled interwebs this Monday.

Why do I say it’s a stupid story? Because it is.

The guy in the original Times Online article admits that he actually dropped the iPod on the floor. And then, for good measure, threw it out the backdoor, before the darn thing exploded.

But our devices shouldn’t explode at all, even if dropped,  you say. Yes?

Errr… Not necessarily.

Look, it is an electronic device. If you drop it hard enough – it will crack. And, if you throw it really hard, you know, like 10 or 20 meters out the back door, maybe even non-removable battery cover inside your iPod will crack. And, if your battery cover has cracked, and it’s wet  outside, what happens?

It is Lithium Ion battery you have inside. Lithium! Remember your high school chemistry classes? What happens when you mix Lithium and water? Big Kaboom…

In case you forgot, here’s a nice YouTube video, showing how disposable lithium battery strap reacts to water:

Doesn’t that look exactly like what happened to the unfortunate iPod touch? And where’s Apple’s fault in that?

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• Apple’s touch surface keyboard with tactile feedback

After all, capacitive touchscreen displays are faster, more responsive, support multi-touch, and are the holy grail of a modern user interface…

In real life it’s not so simple. First there is an issue of price, and, at least for now, capacitive displays are way more expensive then resistive ones. Then there’s the issue of precision/accuracy, where resistive touchscreens are  ahead. This is particularly important in Asia, where stylus based character entry is prevalent, and capacitive touch based devices are not up to the task for this.

And then don’t tell my girl friends about capacitive displays on some latest touch phones. I can still hear the screams and swearing as they try to text on a new LG Arena with those long polished nails…, while Diamond 2 works just fine.

But now RIM might have found a solution to the resistive or capacitive dilemma.  At least for their high end Blackberry devices.

Just merge the damn things, make a touchscreen display with both resistive and capacitive touch sensors/controllers.

And they filed a patent app for that.

By having both -capacitive and resistive – touchscreen controllers in the same device, you get the best of both worlds. Fast responsiveness to finger touch, support for various gestures, high precision and stylus character entry capabilities, in a single device.

Of course, the issue of the price remains. These hybrid capacitive/resistive touchscreen displays will certainly be mighty expensive. But for the high end device like Blackberry Storm 2 or 3, they might be perfect.

And it’s not only RIM that is thinking about combining capacitive and resistive touch. In fact, it is said, that Samsung Jet already comes with something called R-Resistive display tech, that combines the best features of capacitive and resistive touch screens.

• Next Nokia touch smartphone to come with capacitive touchscreen and multi-touch?
• Nokia’s Maemo 6 to support capacitive displays, multi-touch
• Nokia 6208c pops up on Nokia China’s web site
• Samsung to make 100 million touchscreen phones in 2010, 65% of them with capacitive screens
• Samsung announces single chip capacitive touchscreen controller

But some bits  of what they are up to might be found in the patent applications that company files. And today it’s time to look at what the researchers from RIM are up to.

Some time in early 2007, while RIM employees were contemplating the impact iPhone will have on their business and devising the strategies to take on consumer markets, RIM R&D labs were having a field day drawing up a new form factors future Blackberries could sport.

Then  they decided to put all of them into a single patent app, that now, two years later, is available for everyone to view. The concepts in the application range from smart and mundane, that can actually make it into your next Blackberry, to pretty exotic and stupid that will not see the light of day.

But enough of the talk, and let’s look some pictures.  Starting from some, more or less,  realistic designs.

Full touch screen device in a closed mode, that can be easily used for typing with a single hand on a narrow full or semi-QWERTY slide-out keyboard. Why not? It could be made to look just like any other Blackberry, the form factor and all the parts are pretty familiar and this one could find it’s own buyer.

Other designs are much more strange, like this dual mode phone with rotating screen:

It has the usual phone mode, rotate the screen 90 degrees and you get qwerty keyboard, rotate it 90 degrees more and you get the game controls.

Or these sliders:

And then we get to things even more exotic, like this cross between Motorola Aura and Nokia 6810:

This one, with a screen swiveling for no good reason:

Or this strange contraption with wings:

• What’s next for your Blackberry
• The new kind of HTC Slider
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• Sony Ericsson’s bracelet phone

And Google is already thinking of the ways of monetizing Voice. In a way it knows best – through advertising. And it just might work.

When I use my phone, there is actually one time, when I wouldn’t really mind listening to some short audio adverts. Especially if Google can make them relevant to me.

It’s that time between when I dial the number and the person I called answers the phone. Filled with those boring beeps or stupid ringback tones from the operator.

This is exactly the place where Google wants to insert their short audio advertisements, described in a patent app “Ringback  advertising”.

And it’s thinking about setting the self serving audio advertising system in a way that is pretty similar to how Google Adwords works. Complete with auction bidding, Listen Through Ratio and quality scores.

Advertisers can structure their ads by various product categories, location, which can easily be determined for each caller and then start the bidding contest for their ads to be played. The callers can also set up in their profile which categories of ads they are interested in.

There’s also a place for a third party publishers in the system. This can be a service organization or professional, retailer or, possibly, even you and me.

The electronics chain can become a publisher, and set up an audio adverts from the vendors in the chain to be played each time someone calls one of their stores or help lines. Then LG and Samsung can start bidding contest on whose ad will be played, and the publisher gets a significant cut every time the ad is listened to.

Of course, this can work not only through Google voice. Actually, it could be enough to install some software to company PBX and the system will be on.

But if Google Voice gains traction with tens of millions of users throughout the world, this can open another pretty nice income stream to Google.

And with the targeting capabilities that Google will have if it connects your Google Voice to everything it knows about you through your main Google account, this might get pretty interesting… and even a bit scary.

Especially if you add all the info that your Android phone, or any other mobile device with installed Google Voice client, can collect about you.

• Google wants to disintermediate cellular market too
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But there’s also one problem. Through the years of using, you’ve set-up your old device to work with perfectly.

You know – things like fast dial numbers, equalizer settings, network connection passwords, bookmarks, shortcuts to various apps and functions, etc. Now you have to do all that again on a new device, which is one hugely boring task.

And then there’s that process transferring all your media collections, favorite playlists, etc; to the new handset.

Well, Apple may soon have a solution to make this process completely seamless. With the help of the headset that comes with your device.

The idea, described in the latest Apple patent application called “Data store and enhanced features for headset of portable media device “ is pretty simple and elegant.

Since most of the time you don’t really have to change the headset when you get a new device, just add some flash memory to it to store all your device settings, and, maybe, even most used media items. Then, when you get a new device, plug-in your old headset and all your settings and media items are quickly downloaded to your new phone.

And that’s about it. No manual configuration, no additional data transfers, and your new device works just as perfectly as the old one.

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Last we told you about event based modes, intelligent and scheduled communications that could come with your new iPhone 4.0 or 5.0 OS.

Today a new batch of Apple’s patent apps surfaced, showing us some more interesting things that may come with your next major iPhone OS update.

Real world object identification

The idea in the patent app is somewhat similar to Nokia’s Point & Find service being tested right now in some countries – point your iPhone to a real world object, your handset will recognize what it is and then provide relevant additional info about it.

The object identification could be done via camera/image recognition technologies, RFID tags, barcode scanning, etc;). The user can set different location and context based modes to make the object recognition easier (e.g. Museum, Restaurant, Electronics shop, etc;), or an iPhone can to it itself based on location and other parameters.

The user also can create logs/albums of recognized objects for future reference.

Face detection and recognition

This one is pretty obvious. In a patent app Apple  decribes the techniques how to incorporate face detection and recognition technologies into an iPhone, iMac and other devices.

After implementation, face recognition capabilities  can be used to control the operation of the device – controlling access privileges and restrictions, deciding whether to put a device into a sleep mode, etc;

Text Message Filtering

In this patent app Apple describes  methods for filtering and controlling various text based communications via your iPhone.

This filtering can be applied to outgoing and incoming e-mails, text, MMS, IM and other  messages. The text control app can be set up alter the objectionable text (e.g – swear words in an e-mail app), or to help your kid lean foreign language, by making him send e-mails in it:

control application includes an instructional tool or study aid where the administrator sets one or more modes, such as language, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation and/or other content of a text-based communication based on, for example, a user’s age or grade level. This can be especially useful, for example, such as when a child’s grades go down. A parent can then institute a condition to improve a child’s grades. For example, the control application may require a user during specified time periods to send messages in a designated foreign language, to include certain designated vocabulary words, or to use proper designated spelling, designated grammar and designated punctuation and like designated language forms based on the user’s defined skill level and/or designated language skill rating. If the text-based communication fails to include the required language or format, the control application may alert the user and/or the administrator/parent of the absence of such text.

Smarter messaging interface

There are also couple of patent apps that describe the ways to make your overall messaging/communication experience easier.

One of them is related to multiple recipient messages. E.g. You send a message to your work team and not all the messages get delivered. After a preset time interval the messaging app checks the status of message delivery. If some messages have not been delivered, it alerts you and then provides an interface to easily resend a message to those who did not get it via the same or different means.

Another app is designed to help you deal better with unread messages.

Apple thinks  that if you have some unread messages from a person you are about to contact (call or send a message to him), you might want to at least look at them before initiating contact. And that’s exactly what this app does – compares your  unread messages, e-mails, voicemails, etc; to the info of a person you are about to contact and informs you if you have some unread messages from him sitting on your phone.

In addition to checking the contact info, the message app can also check for certain keywords – e.g. the name of a project you are writing about and alert that you have some unread messages relating to it.

This one sounds like one of those obvious (“Darn, how come I didn’t think of that..”) cool  little things that Apple is especially good at.

Changes voice output in your iPhone

And then there’s a patent app that describes the possibility of altering audio output from your iPhone.

There may be a multiple reasons you’d want to do this. Some of them, described in a patent app are:

Despite the restrictions involved in playing back audio files, users of media devices may wish to change the audio output of audio files. A mother, for example, might wish to change the narrator’s voice in a pre-recorded, commercially available audiobook to her own voice, so that her child can listen to the audiobook as narrated in the mother’s voice in her absence. In another scenario, a student listening to a lecture as a podcast file might want to change the audio of certain sections of the lecture to sound like someone else’s voice, so as to emphasize important parts of the lecture.

Well, that’s about it for today. Let’s see what Apple will try to patent next week.

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But they are getting better at this and should eventually figure things out.

In the meantime Nokia R&D labs aren’t sitting still too, and are looking for a new ways to control your mobile device that goes beyond today’s traqditional UI’s.

We’ve already told you about the haptics tactile feetback methods that are being tried there, or  ultrasonic 3D gesture based touchless device control.

Well, here’s one more interesting approach to control your mobile device with the help of some wearable electronics.

The basic idea is pretty simple. Create a comfortable sleeve, with embedded sensors that react to the stretching and relaxation of the human skin.

As the skin stretches differently when you move your fingers and/or hand, the input device can figure out the different gestures and transmit them as commands to a mobile device wirelessly.

The input device can be used to intuitively control a wide range of mobile gadgets , including your phone, game console, media player, laptop, near eye-display and many others.

This kind of controller may not seem too practical and looks pretty far fetched, but, if wearable electronics will become as popular as some are predicting, it might come in quite handy in a few years.

You can download a patent app here (*.pdf, 1.5 MB) : Nokia input sleeve

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We’ve already seen some of the things, like integration between Mapping and Calendar app in recent Apple patent filings. Some new patent applications from Apple reveal even more.

iPhone event based modes

One such patent application, called “Event-based modes for electronic devices” describes how your iPhone 4.0 device could be able to automatically adapt to different locations and life events.

The “life events” can include such things as:

any location-based event (e.g., the device entering or exiting a specific geographical location, such as a country, or a specific type of location, such as a movie theater, etc.), any environment-based event (e.g., the device being subjected to a specific physical orientation, movement, temperature, sound, light, etc.), any calendar-based event (e.g., the device reaching a specific time of day, day of week, date, etc.), any usage-based event (e.g., the device being used for a specific function, for a specific period of time, the device’s battery having less than half of its capacity remaining, etc.), any news-based event (e.g., the device receiving information about a particular worldly occurrence, such as a weather forecast, news report, or sport score, etc.), and combinations thereof.

In reaction to these life events your iPhone would be able to to automatically reconfigure it’s settings – e.g. switch the sound off and turn on a voicemail when calendar shows that you are in the meeting; prioritize certain functions and assets based on your location and time – e.g.messaging functions, e-mail access and notifications  during working hours and when device knows you are in your office, music and multimedia when you are out of your office in the evening; turn off or limit some power hungry functions -e.g active data connection – when your battery is running low, etc;

Scheduled communications on your iPhone

Another Apple patent app, called “User-programmed automated communications “  is somewhat similar to the one above, but describes a way for you to automatically schedule/preset communications activities based on calendar events, your location, caller id and other conditions.

E.g. your iPhone can automatically send a birthday greeting SMS or e-mail to your friends on a certain date, play a specific message based on caller id, if you are unable to pick-up the phone at the moment, send another message to your colleague  if your haven’t answered his voicemail message in an hour, set-up a call with John on specific time,  if a calendar entry says “Call John”, or send  an e-mail to your friends in LA when you arrive there.

Intelligent iPhone communication modes

Most of today’s smartphones are pretty dumb when it comes to setting up communications with others and reacting to communication requests. So it’s up to you to make it right.

Your phone doesn’t really care that you are in a meeting right now, so it’s your problem if you forgot to turn the sound off and some telemarketer calls. When you login on some IM service, all your contacts get an update that you are available, and it doesn’t matter that you only want to show that to your family and closest friends. And when your are unable to pick up the phone, people calling you are left wondering where the heck are you. And there’s no way  to tell the boss that you are closing the deal with a client right now, without broadcasting this to everyone else.

Well, patent app called “Systems and methods for intelligent and customizable communications between devices” shows how Apple might be able to do something about that.

By that I mean:

select appropriate communication modes for incoming communications requests based on a user’s preferences and availability. In addition, the communications device can determine the communication modes of a user based on the current activity and allow the user to provide customized information to his contacts.

If implemented in iPhone OS, the new software will let to set up various communication modes, different reply messages, availability notifications and status updates to all your contacts and contact groups in an address book. These modes then can be turned on/off manually or automatically based on your location, time of day, calendar entries or current activities.

Of course, all of these are just patent apps. But most of these things, if implemented right can make your iPhone much more useful and capable device.

And Apple is not the only one working on the ways to make your next phone an intelligent device.  Google also has some similar ideas in that direction, and I am sure Nokia ain’t sitting still too.

I guess our smartphones may actually become smart in a few years.

• Apple plans to integrate iPhone Mapping and Calendar apps
• Cheap and simple iPhone Nano for your Grandma
• Next in your iPhone OS: live object identification, face recognition, text filtering, smarter messaging, voice alteration
• LG KE850 PRADA was just a beginning
• WHERE for Nseries smartphones

Very few of them make it further then a drawing board, but they still are interesting to look at.

Well, here’s one more cellphone form factor that I will put into a “strange” category. This time coming from Sony Ericsson:

Described in a patent app called simply “Mobile Terminal” the device is intended to be worn as a bracelet, somewhat similar to the watch phones we’ve seen already. But it can also be used in a two hand mode, when you need a faster typing:

…when the mobile phone terminal is worn like a bracelet by putting the ring section  on the user’s arm or the like, the portability of the mobile phone terminal is improved, and the user can see the display surface of the display device  and can operate the key buttons with fingers of the other arm different from the arm on which the ring section is worn. On the other hand, when the ring section  is removed from the arm, the user easily can see the display surface of the display device  of the terminal body section  while holding the ring section  with both hands and operating the key buttons, which can achieve high operability and convenience.

Well, while interesting, the design is strange enough that I am pretty sure it won’t make it into the line-up of regular Sony Ericsson phones anytime soon.

On the other hand, I have  been hearing rumbles about the new “Essence” line of exclusive/radical design phones/accessories that SE can not make up their minds of whether to proceed with or not.

Well, this handset seems radical enough for me.

• Another take on PSP phone, or Sony Ericsson’s own iPhone patent
• Sony Ericsson phone with detachable display
• Better input and bigger screens for cell phones? How about virtual screen from Samsung?
• Nokia’s virtual keyboard idea
• Nokia patents a dedicated gaming console/phone idea

And the recent improvements in user interfaces are making the process of telling your smartphone what to do better and better.

So now the R&D labs at major cellphone/OS vendors are dabbling on another frontier. Making your handset understand what you are doing at any moment of time, anticipate what you will do next, and conform to your wishes even before you thought of that.

Some of these efforts, like integration between calendar and the mapping apps, the automatic syncing with the cloud in WebOS Synergy, or automatic broadcasting of your status and location to friends via Google Latitude and Ovi Contacts, are already appearing or will very soon appear in your next smart device.

But it is just a very early start. And today we get a glimpse of how Google plans to turn your Android phone into a really clever handset by using built-in accelerometer and other sensors.

The main idea behind Google’s patent app called “Activating Applications Based on Accelerometer Data”  is that by continuously monitoring your accelerometer data, your handset can differentiate between your activities. It’s because the different activities – jogging, walking, driving a car in heavy traffic or highway, riding a train or bike, going up in elevator, sitting at your desk in the office – they all generate different acceleration data profiles.

Combine that data with your location (GPS sensor) and time, and there’s a very good chance for your Android phone to correctly guess what your are doing right now.

Add in a training period of a few days or weeks, where your handset watches what you are  doing now and what you are  doing with it, and there’s a possibility for it to become really smart, start anticipate your wishes beforehand and act accordingly even before you tell it to:

• Going out for your 6AM jog before heading to work? Your handset launches a music player as soon as you start running
• Driving a car to work? The phone switches to speakerphone mode and launches that podcast your pre-loaded
• Riding a train to your office and like to catch up on the news during the trip? The browser, with local, business and global news pages open, is already running when you take the phone out of your pocket.
• Just got into the office? Put you handset on the table and the messaging app with all your work voicemails and messages is loaded as you boot up your PC and settle into the chair.

If Google ever translates these ideas into an actual product and gets things wrong, such device capabilities might become mighty annoing and intrusive.

But if this approach is implemented well, your handset may become a very smart and personal device. And get smarter the more you use it, as it learns about your habits more and more.

Actually,  after a while, it might become very hard to abandon your current handset for a new one, which you will have to train again all along.

And it makes a pretty nice way for a company/brand lock-in, if some vendor makes old training profiles exportable only to his own devices

• Google’s own slider smartphone patent app
• Apple thinks of adding flash memory to headsets to ease new device configs
• Google to monetize Voice via ringback advertising auctions?
• Google Mobile App now offered through Best Buy stores
• The Google Phone is reportedly “very real”. Wouldn’t that make Andy Rubin a liar?

There’s one feature missing, that prevents the iPhone from realizing this potential though. The ability to seamlessly stream media content to your home cinema system.

That might be changing soon, if the feature, described in Apple’s patent app “Media out interface”, gets implemented.

In this patent app Apple describes the iPhone capable of streaming video content from a dock to a connected TV monitor.

The docked iPhone can be controlled by the TV/Apple remote. The interface also allows you to reject, answer and end incoming calls. Video playback is stopped when the incoming call is detected.

To tell the truth, I don’t see anything groundbreaking in this new possible feature. Other phones have been able to stream video to TV via TV out port for years. And then there is the whole  DLNA initiative too.

Still, none of these things are adopted and used widely, beyond the circle of some high end consumers and geeks. So I guess it might take Apple to finally show the masses how cool  it is to have all that content on your smartphone seamlessly show up on your home plasma TV.

• Apple iPod/iPhone as a remote control for Apple Media Centre
• True Apple Media Center in the Works
• Movement gestures in iPhone OS 4.0 or 5.0?
• 3G iPhone should boost Mobile TV usage, says report
• iTV – Apple’s play on Home Multimedia Convergence

Nokia Friend View and Google Latitude, that allows to broadcast your location to friends probably received the most of the buzz.

But things are only just starting now and this personal info and status broadcast should see a lot of interesting developments pretty soon.

Case in point – the new service described in Sony Ericsson patent application called “Virtual world avatar activity governed by real persons life activity”.

It envisions a small mobile app on your phone, called “Activity tracker”, that will monitor your activities on the phone and various sensors in it, and broadcast this info to a virtual world service, where the info on your avatar will be updated to reflect your current status.

• Sitting in a restaurant, watching a movie at a Cineplex or relaxing at the beach? Your phone’s GPS sensor sends  the coordinates to the service, which checks your movement patterns within last half an hour, queries the mapping database, deduces what your are up to,  and updates your avatar accordingly.
• Talking to a friend on the phone? The activity tracker knows this and shows your’s and your friend’s avatars in a virtual world as talking to each other.
• Just bought something and paid for it with your handset? Your avatar shows you carrying this thing out of the shop.
• Taking a picture or shooting a video with your phone? The new icons to these items appear next to your avatar as soon as you are done.

To tell the truth, it sounds rather scary, very big brotherish, and prone to abuse.

On the other hand, done smart, with carefull consideration of privacy issues, this might be quite an interesting thing to have. Especially integrated with the likes of Facebook, MySpace and other social networks.

• Eduardo Cachucho’s “The Game” wins 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards
• HTC is working on next gen “Virtual Book” touch UI
• Nokia’s virtual keyboard idea
• Take your TV to go with Samsung’s P960 slider phone
• Nokia Sports Tracker becomes a startup – Sports Tracking Technologies

Well, it seems that Apple really liked it and decided that this thing might be worth it’s own patent, so Palm and Nokia won’t copy it.

The basic idea described in patent app is pretty simple. Place a local cache of iTunes media store server at a retail location, e.g. Starbucks cafe,  and follow the music that is being played from that cache. Beam the associated info to the iPhones and Macbooks via local Wi-Fi network.

Additional icon with store logo will appear on the iPhone. And if the customer fancies the current song, he just taps on this icon and gets all the additional about the song and an option to buy it.

This can easily be tied in with various promotions, e.g. buy an additional coffee and get one song free, etc; and other things.

Simple, elegant, fun and pretty easy to implement. The question is, just how much of the original thinking went into this and would USPTO agree with Apple’s claims.

Afterall, things like Nokia’s indoor LBS can cover song downloads quite easily too.

• Starbucks to offer two hours of free AT&T Wi-Fi a day
• Apple is thinking about having water exposure detector in iPhone
• T-Mobile Sues Starbucks Over Wi-Fi iPhone Deal
• Movement gestures in iPhone OS 4.0 or 5.0?
• New in iPhone software patents

Google wants to have one of the major mobile OS’es out there. Android 1.0 is a good start, but Google is looking forward for Android 3.0 release next year to really get going.

And by now it should be  clear that big G will leave the hardware side of the business to others.

So what the heck Google is doing, patenting it’s own smartphone designs?

Yep, while browsing through patent databases I stumbled on a Google patent app called “Electronic device with hinge mechanism”, filed in August of 2007 for a mobile slider handset:

I guess this Google phone design could be the result of some enterprising Google engineer spending 20% time on his own projects. Or it might be representation of Google efforts for a phone reference design before they decided to stay on the software side of business. Or something else.

Looking at the drawings of this Google smartphone device I can’t find anything very interesting, or even things that have not been implemented already in one way or the other.

But the patent app shows the design work and ideas from 2006 – early 2007. A mobile device with multi-directional sliding keyboard, big display  to easily browse the Net, and peruse Google services, was the thing big G was probably looking for.

And, maybe, felt the need to step in, because there weren’t many such devices back then.

• Google Voice apps available for Android, BlackBerry
• Motorola’s Android-based social-networking phone to be released Q2 2009
• Unlocked Android Google phone in the works?
• T-Mobile G2 may be named “G3″, “myTouch 3G”, “Genius 3G” or “Prism 3G”
• Google Product Search now available for iPhone, Android

So why not just ditch the old laptop and buy a new smartphone for all your computing and communication needs? Well, you can’t.

The small form factor of the device, including miniscule screen, keyboard and  arcane input methods are just not up to the task for the most basic personal computing needs.

But Microsoft seems to have found a way to actually replace your PC with a smartphone without any of the problems mentioned above.

The answer comes in a form of a docking cradle for a mobile phone that connects to your LAN, external HDD, keyboard, mouse, display and any other peripheral you like. It’s described in a patent application “Smart interface system for mobile communication devices”.

The smart interface system is a bit smarter then your average phone cradle. It contains it’s own CPU, memory and embedded OS that handles  the communication  between the phone and peripheral devices.

Embedded OS acts as an intermediary – storing, updating and using drivers for peripherals and simulating a computer for them. It intercepts signals coming from the docked handset and translates them into commands and data that the active peripheral can understand, and does the same for the signals coming from the peripheral to the phone.

So if video stream is coming from the handset, it gets intercepted by the cradle OS, transcoded there and then gets sent to the connected overhead projector to be displayed. When keyboard or mouse input is detected, it gets translated into a command sequence that docked phone can understand and is sent there to be executed.

The kind of peripherals that can be connected to such “smart system” is virtually unlimited and can include:

… televisions (TVs), monitors, displays (e.g., LCD, LED, etc.), projectors, mice, keyboards, gesture input systems, touchpads, touch screen displays, and other human interface devices (HIDs). The peripheral devices 108 can also include printers, cameras, audio and audio processing systems (e.g., speakers, electronic music systems, etc.), image/video and image/video processing systems (e.g., video cameras, digital cameras, scanners, etc.), and storage systems (e.g., USB (universal serial bus) drives, IEEE 1394 drives, external drives, flash drives, etc.), for example. The networks 110 include the IEEE 802 family of wire and wireless networks. The other systems 112 can include set-top-boxes (e.g., cable TV boxes), high-definition systems, home theater systems, security systems, sensor systems, sensor systems (e.g., temperature, humidity, pressure, time, etc.)

Seems like a simple and pretty elegant concept. And it moves a dream of a single all purpose computing and communications device a step closer to reality. Actually, for many of us not interested in latest games and high def video editing, the needed processing capacity is already there.

Just ask yourself – are the most of the things you do today on your PC that different from the things you did on your 400 MHz Pentium II laptop with 128 MB of RAM and 20GB HDD 10 years ago? And every second smartphone today already carries more computing power then this.

The things most of us do  on a PC – Net access, text and spreadsheet editing, image viewing and limited editing, standard video playback – worked pretty well on any Pentium II machine. It seems that the only missing link here is in the quality software to make the features described in MS patent app  work.

• Replace the PC with your cellphone and Sony Ericsson Multimedia Cradle
• Qualcomm: 30 Snapdragon based devices coming in 2009
• iTV – Apple’s play on Home Multimedia Convergence
• Mercedes-Benz announces new “made for iPhone” car cradle
• Microsoft wants to combine multiple WinMo devices into a single system

It seems like a given for this kind of camera feature to be present in one way or another in cameras of the future. But is anyone actively working on it? Sony Ericsson is, and as proof it has applied for a patent for a “CAMERA DICTIONARY BASED ON OBJECT RECOGNITION.”

This handy feature, according to Sony Ericsson’s patent, should work just as anyone would imagine. A user will capture an image of a so-called “target object” with a camera, and software will perform object recognition to produce a corresponding text string that will be displayed on the screen.

Alternatively, the text string (which is in effect the object’s name) can also be stored directly instead of displayed. A list of user-selectable languages will also be provided for users who use languages other than English. Coupled with GPS geotagging, this would give users yet another way to fill their digital snaps with information that would further let them cherish their memories in more detail.

It may still take a long time until we see this feature in cameraphones, however. But we expect Sony Ericsson to announce it once they are ready.

• Sony Ericsson m610i live pics and more details emerge
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• Sony Ericsson W305 Yao for an early 2009 launch?
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness (Kiki) unveiled – video

They have already patented most of the  mapping and navigation features used currently on their handsets Mapping app.

Well, that patent app was more or less about the past. But as we all know Steve Jobs likes to look into the future, not the past. So do we.

And we recently got a glimpse what a future iPhone firmware upgrades might bring to your navigation app – a tight integration with your calendar app and address book.

At least that’s what Apple describes in a patent application named “Integrated calendar and map applications in a mobile device“.

The way it works is pretty obvious.

You enter your scheduling data – meetings, appointments, etc; to your calendar app. If the person’s name you are meeting with is in your address book,  software automatically pre-fills you calendar entry from there. If physical address information is available, it then automatically associates this data with the location on the map.

Of course, you can  enter the location info manually as well. E.g. when you are meeting someone for lunch in a cafe. You fill in cafe name and then the  iPhone finds it’s location on the map and let’s you associate it with the meeting info.

But that’s only a beginning.

With all the data on your device and already cross referenced, many new capabilities to make your life easier open up.

If you have several meetings in different places scheduled throughout the day, your iPhone can map out the best route to each meeting. Using routing and traffic info it can even advice on how much time you will need to get there.

Your iPhone can also monitor your location, and ping you that you have to leave for the next meeting now, if you don’t want to be late. Or, if you are stuck in traffic and gonna be late anyway, it will prompt you to send a pre-selected message with a single touch.

For years I’ve been reading about how the new mobile devices will start  acting like smart personal assistants for us. You know – buying tickets and groceries, scheduling meetings, suggesting the nearest public loo when I’m in a pinch… But years go by and they never seem to get there.

Well, when implemented, this integration between Mapping and Calendar apps might make the iPhone the first mobile device that actually can act smart on itself  and make my life easier  at least in some cases.

If you’d like to read full patent app, you can download it here (*.pdf, 2.3 MB).

• Apple patents iPhone Mobile Navigation / Mapping App
• iPhone 4.0 OS: event based modes, intellingent and scheduled communications
• New in iPhone software patents
• Gmail and Google Calendar for iPhone and Android updated
• Google wants to make your Android phone much smarter with accelerometer and other sensors

And, to be sure, there are quite a few of them using location capabilities.

But, due to the limited use of GPS sensor that Apple allows on iPhone, very few serious navigation/mapping apps made it to the new platform. The reason for these limitations?

Some say it’s because of the too week GPS sensor that is not suitable for serious navigation apps, others say that it’s to preserve battery on the already power hungry iPhone 3G.

But the one that looks the  most obvious to me is that Apple sees a potentially lucrative market developing in the navigation apps/services and want’s to keep that for themselves.

Apple already has a good Google Maps powered mapping/navigation, which  after 2.2 iPhone firmaware update works pretty darn well. And most of the iPhone/touchscreen interface optimization for that app is actually done and owned by Apple, not Google.

And now it seems that Apple has taken this thing one step further and patented most of the features used in it’s mobile navigation app.

While the features described in the patent app do not cover much more then is already available on iPhone after 2.2 upgrade, it shows how much of what many consider to be a Google Maps app on the iPhone, is actually owned by Apple.

And, as more offerings between companies start to compete with each other ( Android, MobileMe Office suite, browsers, etc;), I wonder how long it will be until Apple rolls out it’s own fully functional mapping app.

• New Google-Tele Atlas deal will give users improved maps, chance to change the world
• WAT: Why Europeans did not get Google’s free turn-by-turn navigation on Motorola Milestone
• Google intros free Maps Navigation for Android 2.0, Garmin and TomTom stocks plummet
• Apple plans to integrate iPhone Mapping and Calendar apps
• Google Maps Editor for Android released

But not everyone is pleased by the performance of mobile Safari. And as a matter of fact, a company called EMG Technology LLC has just filed a lawsuit against Apple for allegedly infringing on patents filed by Los Angeles real estate developer Elliot Gottfurcht and his two co-inventors.

According to the suit, the technology in the iPhone that helps it navigate and display some websites intended for viewing on small phone screens infringes a patent that Gottfurcht and his co-inventors obtained last month. It should be noted however, that HTC, RIM, and practically every mobile phone manufacturer of the last five years at least, have been churning out handsets that are capable of displaying the Web on small screens, but the suit is only gunning against Apple.

Gottfurcht’s lawyer, Stanley Gibson, says they “haven’t looked at anything other than the iPhone.” Which figures, because he further goes on to say: “That was the device that we looked at. Obviously it’s very popular.”

Obviously they might as well be just patent trolling. Which is often the case with high-profile companies that have highly successful products. Anyway, with the iPhone being more than a year old, and the patent that it allegedly infringes only having been granted last month, it would be interesting to see how this all turns out.

Via Reuters

• First Apple Phone Patent. Issued in 1985!!!
• Cartier sues Apple over iPhone apps, withdraws suit the same day
• Verizon settles Visual Voice Mail suit with Klausner
• Apple “tax” for iPhone accessories may be in the works
• Apple patents iPhone’s intelligent keyboard

According to an announcement made by Eastman Kodak, Samsung and LG infringe on patents that cover technology related to image capture, compression and data storage and a method for previewing motion images. At the moment, the damages have not yet been specified in the lawsuit.

Both LG and Samsung have responded, and are going to actively face Eastman Kodak’s lawsuit. Samsung’s Hae Won Choi says her company “is committed to protecting and respecting intellectual property rights,” and that they forbid infringement and unauthorized use of such intellectual property. Meanwhile, LG denies the fact that they’ve violated any of Kodak’s digital camera-related patents.

For now, it is also not yet known on which models the patent infringing digital cameras appeared, and neither LG nor Samsung are planning to file countersuits.

Via Digitimes and CNN Money

• Nokia sues Apple, claims iPhone infringes 10 of its patents
• Fractus sues 10 cell phone makers for antenna patent violation
• Mobion fuel cell charger will charge your gadgets on the go
• Sprint to offer wireless services to Garmin, Kodak and SanDisk devices?
• Motorola finally officializes Motorola ZN5 with Wi-Fi, 5MP Kodak camera

Klausner has also filed a suit against Verizon. But, according to Reuters, the two companies have now reached an agreement.

Verizon was granted with a patent license, which obviously allows it to use Klausner’s technology in its Visual Voice Mail service.      

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but, most probably, Verizon had to pay some serious bucks to Klausner. But when you have ~69 million customers, paying huge amounts of cash shouldn’t be a problem at all. 

Verizon currently offers Visual Voice Mail only on a few select phones, including LG Voyager and the new Motorola Krave ZN4. The service allows users to access voice messages both on their Verizon phones and on their desktop/laptop computers. 

• Apple Settles Visual Voicemail Suit
• Verizon Wireless introduces its own Visual Voicemail service
• Visual Voicemail Coming to Verizon
• Apple sued for iPhone’s web-surfing capabilities
• Verizon announces the HTC Ozone; only $49.99 starting June 29

But what happens when you are outside your home? So far Apple did not have much experience integrating various wireless devices on the move. But it’s thinking about it.

In a patent application “Personal area network systems and devices and methods for use thereof ” Apple envisions era of abundant connectivity and cheap, small and efficient RF modules scattered all around us.

These RF modules would contain radio circuitry for connecting to both short range personal area networks (e.g. Bluetooth, UWB,Wi-fi, etc;)  and   long range wireless networks (e.g. GSM, CDMA, Wimax). And not much more.

They be small enough to be integrated in various things and places, including your car, shirt, handbag or shoe.

Your portable devices, such as iPod players will contain only short range wireless connectivity chips. But they will have all the necessary UI’s for both short and long range communication and will be able to connect and identify themselves to any RF module around. Just like today’s Macbooks connect to Airport Express to access the net.

And thus your future iPod, Macbook and whatever portable device Apple thinks off next may have full anytime anywhere connectivity , just  as current iPhone 3G has in most places.

• Karaoke iPod and iPhone as an ultimate Karaoke machine
• Apple iPod/iPhone as a remote control for Apple Media Centre
• Short range wireless networks to enhance capabilities of iPhone
• One iPod dock to hold them all
• Apple files patent for method to automagically pair Bluetooth-enabled devices near each other

But megapixel count is not the only thing that makes the camera in a mobile phone good. The shutter and autofocus speeds, zoom functionality and many other things are no less important. And Sony Ericsson is working to improve these things too.

Their recent patent application shows how Sony Ericsson may go about improving zoom functionality and ease of use in it’s camera phones.

The basic idea is to make zooming automatic by following the handset movement. When you move a camera away from your body, the image zooms in, as you move it back, the image zooms out.

The technology involves accelerometers and proximity sensors to measure the movement of the handset, it’s  distance from your  body and a software to convert the movement values into a zoom parameters.

Nothing really groundbreaking here, but the whole thing looks like a nice touch to improve the overall interface and make the process of taking pictures with cameraphones a more seamless experience.

• Sony Ericsson Cybershot with 3x optical zoom and WVGA display to be launched this week. Only in Japan, unfortunately
• Optical zoom is coming to Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot phones
• Sony announces 12.25 MP image sensor for camera phones, available starting March 2009
• Sony Ericsson W902 gets nicknamed Patty, to be announced with W595 on July 22nd
• Sony Ericsson Hikaru to bring an 8 MP camera, 8GB of memory; Sony Ericsson Twiggy in the works too

In a recent patent filing, Apple suggests that Bluetooth devices should be able to pair up as soon as they come within a certain range of each other. That way, you only need to activate Bluetooth on either device and position them next to each other to successfully pair. And by all accounts, that certainly seems much easier.

This will be a great and welcome innovation for Bluetooth headset makers, as the need for PINs just makes the whole process of pairing BT headsets with handsets that much harder.

And if you think this could bring the risk of unwanted pairings and other similar instances, Apple is one step ahead of you as it mentions in the patent that the auto-pairing will break once the two devices leave the specified range. Now how about rolling this feature out sooner than later, eh Apple? Just don’t forget to include A2DP.

Via Apple Insider

• Apple looks forward to add RF communications to everything
• First Apple Phone Patent. Issued in 1985!!!
• New iPhone Docking Station. Apple Tablet next?
• Apple patents improved digital ink recognition techniques for pen-aware tablet
• Apple patents iPhone’s intelligent keyboard

At the same time, everyone around seems to be carrying some portable device. But when we want to share something with a friend, or do some things together on some smartphone, all other devices around stay idle.

What if there was a possibility to pool all the resources, including CPU’s, memory, displays, storage, etc; of all  portable devices around us to accomplish certain tasks?

Well, Microsoft is exploring possibilities along these lines in it’s patent application called  “Mobile device collaboration”.

Microsoft wants the phone hardware and software with built-in “proximity detection”, “synchronizer ” and “resource coordinator” modules. When such phones are brought close together, they are combined into a single computing module and act as a single device sharing all the resources.

The main attention in the patent app is focused on video sharing among multiple devices, including one case where  21 cell phone display screen is combined.  But that is only one potential use of such system.

The scenarios explored by Microsoft include:

Video Display Aggregation- creating a single display from several phones

CPU/Memory Aggregation to perform tasks that are otherwise not possible or when the processing power of a single device is not enough for the task. E.g. HD video decoding, gaming apps, etc;

Storage Aggregation for external storage, remote backup and file sharing

Battery Aggregation – when connected via wired interface, several phones can share battery power. E.g for call forwarding when one phone runs out of power

Radio/Antenna Aggregation to increase communication bandwidth

Multiple microphone aggregation to perform stereo recording, or to  support other microphone-array enabled applications such as determining the speaker’s position, etc.

Speaker aggregation to  create stereo audio playback, or provide “orchestra” and other surround-sound effects if more than two mobile devices are available.

Camera aggregation to perform stereo video capturing or super-resolution recordings

Keypad aggregation to provide better input means

• Microsoft Gaming System for your Zune, Xbox, PC and PDA
• Philips Xenium 9@9j now official
• Microsoft Veda. New look at mobile convergence
• Microsoft patents the interface to transform your phone into a PC
• Microsoft and Verizon talking about iPhone rival… Yawn…

There should be a boon of advertising dollars for Nokia and operators if only there was an  efficient way to put advertising messages in front of our eyes while we are engaged with our phone. And recent Nokia patent application for “Animated Connection page” shows how Nokia may go about doing that.

The plan is to load a standardized advertising management app called “Connection page” in the phone middleware, and use it to manage all advertising messages. ‘Connection page” is responsible of retrieving ads from company servers, storing them in phone memory, updating and removing them as necessary.

Advertising supported apps then call to the “Connection page” for relevant ads, which are generated in required format and displayed in front of you, while you are reading your e-mail, browse the net, or look at the Nokia maps.

With the amount of information that the phone can have about you – location, keywords in messages, the type of phone you are carrying, program you are using, usage patterns, etc; the possibilities to display contextually relevant ads are great.

And the possibilities to provide immediate calls to action like “Call now for xx% discount“, or “There’s still a “Happy our” if you get to our restaurant within 15 mins. Click here for directions“,  might make this form of advertising even more attractive to businesses.

And useful to you too. Of course, finding the right balance between useful and hugely annoying ads might be a big problem.

But mobile advertising is here to stay, and we are gonna see more and more of it anyway. And it might at least be less annoying then receiving irrelevant unsolicited SMS messages and marketing calls several times a day.

• Nokia intros affordable new folding beauty, Nokia 6600 Fold
• Nokia introduces the Nokia 3610 Fold
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• fring VoIP app for iPhone
• Nokia Media Network gains European media giants in roster

But not everyone may be happy that it is a phone first. Maybe they would like their device to be something else first, and the phone only second or third? (Although for us, phone junkies that may sound crazy a bit …)

Still, it seems that even Microsoft might be  thinking along these lines. And has a patent app for a modular lego-like GPS Navigator with attachable phone, camera and other functions to prove it:

The basic idea is pretty simple: Create a slim and efficient base for a GPS navigator to carry easily around. With big touchscreen, battery, GPS, CPU, memory and other necessary chips  and software. Add some connection ports to the sides of the device. And then create external modules for additional functionality (e.g. phone, modem, camera, card reader, additional power pack, etc;) for users to buy and attach to the base unit.

I guess it’s not a really new idea. And it is not even necessary to have GPS Navigator at the base – Modu already has a similar working phone.

But it may be a pretty interesting and useful idea to some. And I have yet to see a such a device in the retail store near me.

So, if  Microsoft decides adapt their mobile OS and/or make a reference design for such a thingy, maybe someone will get busy making one eventually?

• Nokia 6210 Navigator approved by the FCC
• Microsoft selects agency to create ad campaign for the WM7 Pink phone
• Control your Sony Ericsson phone with the hand gestures
• Apple thinks of adding flash memory to headsets to ease new device configs
• Sony Ericsson’s Mobile Phone/Universal Remote Control

The way Nokia sees it is that users should be able to take a digital photo with a camera, turn the digital photo around on its back, and write relavant notes directly onto the back of the photo itself.

With Nokia’s method, users can use either a touchscreen phone or a regular cameraphone, and flip through saved photos ala Apple’s Cover Flow feature in iPod and iTunes.

Users will then be able to flip the photo around, and use either a keypad or a stylus to write notes such as who or what was in the photo, where it was taken, etc. Coupled with geo-tagging, this could make for a great way to make long-lasting memories. Here’s to hoping Nokia gets to work on the said feature and include it in their next generation of phones.

USPTO Via New Scientist

• Nokia Clamshell with display and touchscreen
• Interactive keypad for Nokia phones
• Triple slider idea from Nokia
• Sony Ericsson wants to equip cameraphones with built-in image dictionaries
• Nokia 6208c pops up on Nokia China’s web site

Now, if the ideas sketched out in a new Apple patent application “Multitouch data fusion” are implemented, we may soon see another qualitative leap in the usability of user interfaces in various computing devices.

Multi-Touch (MT) interface is perfectly good for many of the device control and operation functions. But on-screen 2D object manipulation has some inherent limitations too, and there are quite a few actions that can be done better by other input means. And electronic devices that use MT, usually have quite a few of these other input means. That can include cameras, microphones, accelerometers, biometric sensors, temperature sensors, etc;.

What Apple is proposing in it’s patent app, is to fuse these secondary input means with Multi-Touch to improve the overall user interface. And it gives quite a few examples of how to do that.

E.g. fusing voice input and multitouch can significantly improve image editor capabilities:

Some of the image manipulation actions – like resize, move, rotate – are handled very well with multitouch. But other tasks, like changing object color, inserting text, etc; are much easier accomplished by using voice input. By fusing these two inputs together – you can make all the process much faster and easier. Now you manipulate on screen objects with you fingers, and then just tell the object to “change color” or “insert text”.

Other MT data fusion examples include:

Combination of MT and motion sensor data. It can be used in iPhone gaming applications where motion data is combined with MT to control characters. It can also be applied to improve multi-touch sensitivity on your iPhone while on the move, and filter out the erroneous gestures occurring due to vibration.

Force sensors with MT can be used to interpret the firmness of touch gesture, and initiate functions depending on the firmness of touch.

One of the most significant improvements to multi-touch can be achieved by fusing MT with visual input from device camera. Especially on your Macbooks and iMacs:

Obvious improvements can come with the possibility to clearly identify each finger and assign different function to them. E.g. each finger can be assigned different color in painting application.

Camera can also easily track your eye movements and provide the “gaze vector data” to the device. Fusing gaze vector data with multi-touch gestures can be used for selecting active windows on screen, control of the cursor movements and other operations we currently use a mouse for.

When Multi-touch, finger identification and gaze vector data are combined it could be used to create an input device that may spell a doom for our usual keyboard and mouse very soon.

Visual data can also be used to interpret your facial expressions. If you get stuck trying to perform some task the frustration may show-up on your face. Your device may understand that and provide some help:

…let’s say that the user is trying to scroll through a document using a two-finger vertical movement (gesture). Scrolling, however, is not working for him because he is unknowingly touching the surface with three fingers instead of the required two. He becomes frustrated with the “failure” of the device. However, in this case, the system recognizes the frustration and upon analyzing the multi-touch movement data concludes he is trying to scroll with three fingers. At this point, the device could bring the extra-finger problem to the attention of the user or it could decide to ignore the extra finger and commence scrolling. Subsequent emotional data via facial recognition would confirm to the system that the correct remedial action was taken.

These are just a few of the possibilities described in patent app. Some of them, like facial expression/MT combination may be pretty far off. But many others, like voice input/MT, motion sensors/Multi-Touch, visual data/MT fusion are technically feasible already.

• Touchzel – Apple’s new way to control your handhelds
• Nokia is exploring 3D multi-touch interface
• Remote input sleeve from Nokia
• First glimpse inside Nokia S60 Touch. Going beyond Multi-Touch
• Nokia’s virtual keyboard idea

The rumors apparently started at Daily Mail, based out of the UK. They are reporting that we can expect a $300 pre-paid Nano on O2’s network by December.

Nobody even knows if they hold any ground. Frankly, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard these rumors and probably won’t be the last. Apple is so tight on secrecy that if it were true we probably wouldn’t know for sure until close to release time. It will be interesting to see what happens to the rumor this time; will it stick around or go away?

We want your comments on this. Does the concept of a smaller iPhone interest you? Let us know why or why not. I personally am not so interested mainly because I prefer the larger touchscreen.

It would involve a huge change in design to pull off a Nano. According to the Daily Mail, it was suggested the Nano phone would have a touch wheel on the back and display on the front so that numbers would be dialed from behind.

via Daily Mail

• Entire line of iPhone nano cases showcased online
• Vaja turns into yet another iPhone nano case maker
• Chip orders for low-cost entry-level iPhone Nano to be made in March, device could be launched in June: report
• Case manufacturer gives further hints on an iPhone nano
• iPhone Nano to be launched in June, with home key on the side?

At least it seems to have the biggest amount of different handsets, in different shapes, form factors and control elements such as optical joystics, touchpads, touchscreens, etc;

I don’t know if it’s good or bad for the user, who sometimes may feel overwhelmed by too many choices. But Samsung ain’t gonna stop.

I just sifted through a number of patent applications that Samsung has produced recently, and found quite a few more interesting approaches to cellphone design, that might make it into a live handsets in a few years.

Let’s start with a patent simply named “Mobile phone“:

As you can see, it describes a slider handset with a twist.

It can be a simple full touch screen phone just like Samsung Omnia i900 or F490, but it has many more goodies beneath the screen. A numeric keypad can slide out from when you need to dial a number. Then there’s another key layer beneath that, which, with a little twisting and turning can transform your phone into a full fledged communicator or gaming console.

Another interesting handset design describes a clamshell phone with dual display/touch screens:

Instead of the numeric keypad, the bottom part of the clamshell contains secondary display with touchscreen functionality. All the control buttons are made into a softkeys and can change depending on the mode the device is currently in. I think, that with some little haptics magic it can be made to work pretty well.

Of course, not everyone is awed by the recent iPhone induced craze to use the touchscreens to do everything on your mobile phone. Don’t worry, Samsung has a solution for you too:

Samsung  has borrowed the idea from Art Lebedev’s  Optimus Maximus, and transformed the keys on the phone keypad into a small OLED displays. This way you can have the best of the both worlds – soft keys changing their functionality and displayed info at need, while still retaining a full tactile feel of the physical keypad.

And the last interesting device I wanted to talk about is a mobile phone with flexible display:

Whenever flexible displays become available and reach acceptable quality, this approach might allow you to have a mobile phone and a mighty multimedia device with a really big screen in your pocket. The picture above is more or less self explanatory. In a closed position – it’s a normal mobile phone. But when you open it – the flexible display stretches out, and you can have as much screen real estate as you like.

I have no idea how many of these ideas will make it out of Samsung’s R&D labs. But quite a few of them look feasible and could be implemented real quick.

• Foldable/ rollable phone from Motorola
• Samsung gaming phone design directions
• Samsung F490 and Samsung P720 outed in Ukraine
• Reconfigurable keypads to transform your Blackberry into a multimedia device
• Touchscreen Ruler Interface for Samsung PMP

The telerobotic shopper demo was performed at Izutuya department store in Kitakyushu, Japan, where a caring granddaughter took care of her sick grandmother’s shopping fix. The girl and the robot took to each other’s side, examined the hats on display, and eventually picked one to purchase and take home to the grandmother.

Apparently, the telerobotic shopper is some kind of robot wielding a cameraphone that does video calls with you so you can see what the robot sees. How this is better than just letting a friend go to the mall with a regular cameraphone and doing a video call with you, I don’t really know. But I’m sure tmsuk is going to work hard enough on it anyway to try and make it as mainstream as soon as humanly possible.

Via Gizmodo

• KTF launches mobile-controlled cleaning robot
• Revolution in cellphone design! A Cellpphone Robot :)
• Samsung Robot Sentry can shoot you on sight
• Panasonic P706ie headed for NTT DoCoMo in Japan
• LG Prada L852i enters Japan, get’s 7.2 HSDPA

What we knew then was that they have “…inserted two small piezo-sensor pads under the screen and engineered in a 0.1mm movement in the screen itself“.

Recently  Nokia patent application for (apparently) this technology became public. So now we can bring you more details about how this wonder touchscreen tech will work.

The main idea behind the haptikos is the possibility to create “… variable and controllable user perceived surface roughness or friction coefficient“.

This is achieved by placing   a “…plurality of closely spaced voltage controllable protuberances” that  can be raised and lowered on a touchscreen surface.

When no current is applied, the protuberances are flush with the surface of touchscreen and the whole surface area feels solid and smooth. When voltage is applied, the protuberances raise from the surface with increasing extent, providing the feel of tactile elements on a touchscreen. By controlling on which parts of the touchscreen and when the protuberances are raised, and illusion of a tactile feedback is achieved.

The protuberances in the picture above are made of the elongated elements that extend parallel to the touchscreen. But they can as easily have circular or elliptic  outline and can be arranged in a grid array.

The protuberances themselves consist of a transparent fluid filled compartments, covered with translucent elastic sheet or foil. Alongside these compartments are piezoelectric actuating members that  protrude into them as voltage is applied. The pressure on a liquid in the compartments created by protruding actuators makes the elastic surface or the compartments to bulge out, creating the touchscreen surface area friction.

Each actuator can be controlled independently, providing the possibility to dynamically create and turn off higher surface friction/roughness areas on any part of the touchscreen, at will. By moving the actuators back further then the default position, it is even possible to create a negative pressure on the tactile feedback compartments, thus creating the feel of the surface bulging in, e.g. at a press of the button.

This tactile feedback layer is really thin and transparent, and is invisible to the user when placed above the LCD and touchscreen, or integrated into the touchscreen plane.

And the rest is the work of  tuning the actuating software to create a convincing illusion of tactile elements and movement. Which is, admittedly, no easy feat.

But Nokia already has a working prototype of haptikos  based touchscreen keyboard and is hard at work on drag and scrolling functions.

I hope, that by the time Nokia has it’s own S60 multi-touch UI rolling out, haptikos would be ready for a prime time too.

You can download the patent application here.

• Apple’s touch surface keyboard with tactile feedback
• Blackberry patents: Angled Slider and RIM Multi-Touch technology
• Nokia to launch 3 touchphones this fall. Adds Immersion’s haptics vibration feedback
• Nokia Braille Reader to help visually impaired users read SMS
• Nokia formally introduces S60 5th Edition OS, not as Taco

After all, how many gestures can you use on your iPhone or Multi-touch enabled Macbook touchpad ? Tap, resize/zoom, scroll/browse,  drag& drop , pinch, few more?

Well, in a patent application “Multi-touch gesture dictionary” Apple has already indicated that much more of the gestures can be made available in the future.

The new patent application from Cupertino, called “Gesture learning” gives a whole new meaning to gesture expansion. It describes how Apple may go about teaching you a whole new multi-touch gesture language, consisting of hundreds of words. Something like American Sign Language for touchscreens.

To describe the possibilities of multi-touch gesture language, Apple splits a single gesture into two phases.

The first phase of the gesture includes specific combination of fingers (or other hand parts) that you place on the touchscreen. It’s called chord.

Another phase is the movement of the fingers – rotation, translation, scaling, etc. Taken together these phases make a full multi-touch gesture.

Now, according to Apple:

Each of a user’s hands acting alone can execute twenty-five or more chords. For example, five fingers that can be independently raised or lowered give rise to thirty-one combinations. Additional chords may be distinguished by whether only the fingertips are in contact with the surface or whether the length of the finger is flattened against the surface. Further chords may be distinguished based on whether the fingertips are placed on the surface close together or spread apart. As noted above, modifier keys (e.g., the Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Cmd keys of a keyboard) may be used to distinguish different chords. Modifier keys may also include buttons, touch-sensitive or force-sensitive areas, or other toggles located on the device.

And then:

Many chords can have at least thirteen different motions associated with them. For example, a two-finger chord (for example, the index and middle fingers) could have specific meaning or action assigned to the lateral motions that include rotation, translation, and scaling. Rotation (clockwise and counter-clockwise) of the two-finger chord gives rise to two unique meanings or actions. Translation (left, right, up, down, and four diagonals) gives rise to at least eight unique meanings or actions. Scaling (contraction or expansion) also gives rise to two meanings or actions. The vertical motion of a chord may comprise lifting the fingers of the chord off the multi-touch surface almost immediately after they had touched down, (e.g., tapping the multi-touch surface with the chord) or multiple taps, etc.

Well, you can do the math yourself. 25 or more chords with 13 or more possible movements. That’s at least 325 possible gesture combinations for a single hand. Which may already be enough to create a new multi-touch gesture language. Using both hands and more complex gesture combinations the vocabulary of such language can grow into a thousands of words.

The problem is – how we go about learning this stuff?

Apple proposes a separate interactive multi-touch gesture learning application.

Nothing too complex, just a screen area for the user for assisted experimentation with different gestures, another small animated window showing how to perform the gesture and interactive feedback mechanism, showing how well user is performing the gesture.

And to make it more fun, Apple can make a game out of the whole learning process.

The game can be something like Space Invaders or Missile Command video games, where various gesture representations  descend down the screen and you have to destroy them by correctly executing the gestures. It can be Tetris , where particular block shapes  correspond to particular gestures.

Or it can be even more complex games Final Fantasy, Civilizations or whatever, where:

… each character, vehicle or group of characters is assigned a particular chord, and various gesture motions performed with that particular chord direct the movements, spells, and/or attacks of a character, vehicle, or group of characters. Failure to perform the correct chord results in punishment in the form of unwanted movements, spells or actions by unintended characters, vehicles, or groups of characters. Since the instantly performed chord selects the character, vehicle, or group of characters, with practice the player will be able to switch between characters, vehicles, or groups of characters much more quickly than the traditional method of moving the mouse cursor over or directly touching the desired character, vehicle, or group of characters.

Well, I know that the whole thing  sounds extremely complex. And it is.

But if the way we learned the IM/SMS texting language, and the things teens are able to do on their T9 phone keypads are any indication, there might be something here.

It would certainly be interesting to see what of this multi-touch gesture language will eventually be implemented in various gadgets and how these things will get adopted by users in the coming years.

• Apple is looking beyond Multi-Touch
• Samsung files patent for cellphone sign language recognition
• Apple’s touch surface keyboard with tactile feedback
• Samsung SPH M4650 Multi-Touch Smartphone
• Mobile Connect application for Microsoft Surface

A award-winning design at the “Design the Next LG Phone” contest certainly caught UV’s eye: a mobile projector that projects images on the back of the hand.

Check out the pictures below. When the projector is not in use, it can be placed in your shirt pocket pen-style. Maybe they should even put a pen in it, get the whole dual-use action! No plans for mass production just yet, but you never know.

via TelecomsKorea

• Tiny mobile projector developed by MDS and SCRAM
• Motorola Aura Makes CES Appearance
• Samsung Style Report packs twin-LCD screens in clamshell form factor
• Samsung MBP200 micro-projector available now in Europe
• Ply concept phone inspired from the design of multilayered plywood

Recently the new frontier for the application of head mounted displays started to emerge – mobile phones.

With limited amount of screen real estate, increasing processing and multimedia capabilities of modern handsets, HMDs might make a perfect sense in some cases.

At least in theory.

And mobile vendors are starting to take notice of HMDs in their R&D labs. Recently we saw Apple trying to patent their laser based head mounted display. Now it’s Motorola’s turn, with a phone/HMD hybrid patent application.

The basic idea behind Motorola’s approach – is have two modes of operation for the device. When carrying around – it’s more or less typical clamshell phone with keypad, display and all other phone things.

However when you want to use it in HDM mode, both  covers of the handset open, and the phone screen becomes the main part of head mounted display. You can put it on your head like any pair of VR glasses, with headphone parts plugging into your ears and completely isolating you from the environment to fully enjoy movie or gaming experience.

These drawings from Motorola looks pretty crude and funny for now, and will probably never become a reality.

Still, as I said earlier, there some cases, e.g. long flight or train ride, where the HDM capability would make a perfect sense.

And whoever is able to solve the portability and ease of use problems, and make good HDM device at an affordable price, can make a tidy profit.

• Apple patents laser based head mounted display
• Sony Ericsson phone with detachable display
• Triple slider idea from Nokia
• Two-Way slider patent for Sony Ericsson P5i look-alike
• Foldable/ rollable phone from Motorola

I’d say spilling a coffee on it, or dropping it into a water somewhere. We all know that water is bad for electronics, but this sh$#& happens quite often.

Then, we may try to dry it and hope the whole thing works again. And, the less honest among us, may take the iPhone to the store, and claim that “… it stopped working and I have no idea why…”

Looks like Apple had a fair share of such claims. It is now thinking about installing water exposure detectors into the iPhones and iPods, so a technician can see what the problem is with a single glance, and tell you that the warranty is void, without even opening the darn thing.

The water exposure detector can be made to be seen by everyone, as a seprate opening in the device. Or it can be installed inside the headphone jack and require an additional simple tool to view.

I won’t go into the technical details of how it will be achieved. Looks a pretty easy thing to do, and if you want more, go read the full patent application for this here.

• Apple “tax” for iPhone accessories may be in the works
• Apple patents iPhone Mobile Navigation / Mapping App
• China Unicom to launch iPhone on Oct. 15th. $293 for 8G, $439 for 16G on a 2 year, $27 a month contract
• Copy-paste tech from Apple Newton could make its way to iPhone
• Apple’s device abuse detection system and the stupid exploding iPod story

Klausner has filed successful suits with other industry giants such as Vonage and AOL, and can now claim another victory. Apple and AT&T, as part of the settlement, decided to license the technology in order to continue using it on the current and future iPhones.

While the specific amount owed is not known, Klausner had originally requested damages and future royalties worth $360 million.

With this victory, Klausner is now setting its sights on other things, such as licensing deals with eBay, Comcast and Cablevision, all of whom Klausner had suits pending on.

via AppleInsider

• Verizon settles Visual Voice Mail suit with Klausner
• O2 Website Offers iPhone Pre-Orders
• Neonode Inc’s Swedish subsidiary files for bankruptcy
• PA Semi to make new chips for iPhone, iPods
• Apple calls copy/paste function low priority feature for iPhone 3G

The Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot is SE’s latest Cyber-shot camera phone that boasts the highest megapixel count ever at 8.1 megapixels. It offers integrated face detection auto-focus, smart contrast, image stabilizer, built-in Xenon flash and more.

The S302 Snapshot, meanwhile, is for people who wouldn’t mind taking a photo, a snapshot, if you will, or two but don’t really intend on going pro with their camera snaps.

 Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot is a quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone with support for UMTS networks, and it also has the following features:

• Complete digital camera experience on a phone – true digital camera styling and an 8.1 megapixel camera with Xenon flash
• Outstanding picture quality – complete with face detection auto-focus, smart contrast and image stabilizer
• From baby’s first steps to an amazing sunset; store them all on the 2GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2®) included
• The USB adaptor (CCR-70) provided in-box allows for easy transfer of your photos to-and-from your PC.
• View high-quality pictures on the phones impressive 2.4” scratch-resistant mineral glass display Share your memories – send your photos wirelessly from your phone to your TV via Wi-Fi™ (using DLNA), or connect with wires using the TV-Out Cable ITC-60, also announced today
• Upload photos to your own online blogsite or print your photos with fantastic resolution up to A3 size
• Much more than a camera phone – GPS-enabled for geo-tagging of photos and navigation support.

It will be available in three colors: Night Black, Ice Silver, and Copper Gold starting from Q4 2008.

The S302 Snapshot is like the little brother of the C905 this time around, and here are its features at a glance:

• Slick and slimline with a stylish design and a premium, high-gloss finish
• 2.0 megapixel camera with an easy-to-learn camera menu. Use the S302 just like you would a digital camera
• Photo light and Photo fix – useful photo functions to help you get the shots you want Capture the action – video recording and playback
• Room for your entire photo album – up to 20 MB internal memory and Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support
• Transfer photos easily via USB, Bluetooth™ or Memory Stick Micro™

Like the C905, the Sony Ericsson S302 Snapshot should become available by Q4 2008 in Crystal Blue and Thunder Grey. Full press release ahead

Sony Ericsson brings out the photographer in us all unveiling its first ever 8.1megapixel camera phone and a stylish snapshot phone 17 June 2008 The new C905 Cyber-shot™ and S302 Snapshot camera phones from Sony Ericsson allow consumers around the world to capture and share vivid photos whatever their needs, photography skills or budget. Whether it is a compact camera phone with prestige good looks, or a real alternative to a digital camera, Sony Ericsson has the phone for the job. Singapore, 17 June 2008 – The C905 is Sony Ericsson’s first Cyber-shot slider and its most advanced camera phone yet. With an 8.1 megapixel camera and real camera flash amongst its cutting-edge capabilities, it offers easy photo-taking in a phone that derives its looks from a digital camera and offers the picture quality to match. In comparison the S302 Snapshot is for those who want it all at an affordable price – good looks, must-have features and a pocket-sized slim design. “The C905 Cyber-shot™ and S302 Snapshot have been developed to make us all better photographers! That means making it easier to take great shots and never missing that magic moment.” said Sven Totté, Head of Imaging Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “Although both have photography at their core, the phones are very distinct; the 8.1megapixel C905 is a viable alternative to a digital camera and the S302 is perfect for those who don’t want to miss a moment and like to send or Bluetooth™ their photos to their friends.” The new C905 Cyber-shot™ Take your best shot * Complete digital camera experience on a phone – true digital camera styling and an 8.1 megapixel camera with Xenon flash * Outstanding picture quality – complete with face detection auto-focus, smart contrast and image stabilizer * From baby’s first steps to an amazing sunset; store them all on the 2GB Memory Stick Micro™ (M2®) included * The USB adaptor (CCR-70) provided in-box allows for easy transfer of your photos to-and-from your PC. * View high-quality pictures on the phones impressive 2.4” scratch-resistant mineral glass display * Share your memories – send your photos wirelessly from your phone to your TV via Wi-Fi™ (using DLNA), or connect with wires using the TV-Out Cable ITC-60, also announced today * Upload photos to your own online blogsite or print your photos with fantastic resolution up to A3 size * Much more than a camera phone – GPS-enabled for geo-tagging of photos and navigation support. The new S302 Snapshot Good for your image * Slick and slimline with a stylish design and a premium, high-gloss finish * 2.0 megapixel camera with an easy-to-learn camera menu. Use the S302 just like you would a digital camera * Photo light and Photo fix – useful photo functions to help you get the shots you want * Capture the action – video recording and playback * Room for your entire photo album – up to 20 MB internal memory and Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) support * Transfer photos easily via USB, Bluetooth™ or Memory Stick Micro™ Building on Sony Ericsson’s camera phone heritage, the C905 Cyber-shot™ phone and S302 Snapshot are all-round performers that maximise their camera credentials. The S302 introduces a premium looking, yet affordable phone with a snapshot camera at-hand when needed. The C905 is a powerful 8.1 megapixel camera phone that looks, feels and acts like a real camera. The C905 Cyber-shot™ will be available in three colours (Night Black, Ice Silver and Copper Gold) in selected markets from Q4 2008. It will support the following networks: * C905: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 2100. * C905a: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 * C905c: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900. The S302 Snapshot will be available in Crystal Blue and Thunder Grey in selected markets from Q4 2008. The S302 (and S302c for China markets) will support GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900. TV-Out Cable ITC-60 will be available Q4 2008

Via Sony Ericsson

• Sony Ericsson K770 3.2 mpx Cyber-Shot phone launched
• Sony Ericsson K550/K550im – slim and affordable Cyber-Shot Camera Phone
• Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot caught in the wild again and spec’d
• Sony Ericsson Cybershot K810/818 Released
• Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K800 and K790 digital camera/phones

But today, with the proliferation of smartphones, PDA phones, communicators, MID’s, UMPC’s, sub-notebooks and what not, sometimes it’s pretty difficult to know where to put any particular device and how best to use it.

The latest such device to come out of Microsoft R&D labs will not make this task any easier.

Revealed in a patent application “Multi-mode multimedia device and computing system” it describes a thingie like this:

And why would we need such a device? Microsoft gives the following rationale – while computers are able to perform most of the tasks carried out by dedicated devices, sometimes it’s harder to perform the same action on a PC:

“… making a telephone call using a computer involves knowing what application is used on a computer to make a call, starting the application and figuring out how to use it using input devices attached to the computer like keyboard and mouse. Instead if the device had a hardware keypad that is normally used in a telephone, along with appropriate software then dialing a call would just involve pressing “Dial” button, followed by the numbers to be dialed on hardware keypad and the required software will come up and complete the call for the user. In this way the interaction of the user with the device would be the same as the interaction with a special purpose device for making a telephone call”.

So the device, described above, can be used as a phone, when in closed position, as a multimedia player when the screen is open, and as a normal portable PC by opening the screen and extracting the keyboard.

To be even marginally useful, such a device would be bigger then your normal phone. But external accessories can be added, if you would want to use such device as a mobile phone too:

On the left there’s a remote control, wirelessly coupled to the computing device. It can be used for making telephone calls and controlling other device functions.

Other figures in the picture above, show some features of User Interface on the device. And they might be even showing the it’s name – Microsoft Veda.

• Windows Sideshow is now available for Windows Mobile devices
• Nokia patents a dedicated gaming console/phone idea
• Microsoft launches OneApp, helping feature phones to become smarter
• Microsoft selects agency to create ad campaign for the WM7 Pink phone
• No new Zune device in June after all

Don’t you just hate it, when during an engaging presentation, show or movie, a mobile phone of some as#$%^&&, sorry, forgetful person, begins to ring? What about someone taking out his high end cameraphone and doing something with it in the locker room? Can you be sure he’s not taking your nude pictures in the shower? What about someone secretly recording confidential conversation on his mobile phone?

Microsoft seems to have an idea how to solve all these problems at once. By creating device manners policy DMP), to which all mobile devices will have to comply to. And they  even want to patent it.

According to Microsoft:

Such policy may be used to communicate to various mobile and other devices the “manners” with which compliance is expected or required. Similar to some of the social manners honored among people, such as with “no smoking” or “employees only” zones, “no swimming” or “no flash photography” areas, and scenarios for “please wash your hands” or “no talking out loud”, devices may recognize and comply with analogous “device manners” policy.

The system can be implemented in several ways. Bigger venues and businesses may have a separate box – DMP server – which transmits information about allowed actions to all mobile devices within it’s reach.  Nearby devices can wirelessly talk to each other and agree on the limits of acceptable behavior. Policies might be transmitted via carrier network and implemented at certain locations via GPS positioning or tower triangulation. In some cases even some non-perceptible to human signals, like invisible (to human eye) watermark, or inaudible (to human ear) audio signals and RFID tags may be used to lock some functionality of the mobile device.

Examples of the use of such Device Manners Policy include:

• a museum, which provides additional exhibit info to users mobile phone, but transmits a “no photography” policy and allows to bring in only those gadgets that indicate compliance with it
• the “no photography” DMP may be provided in the form of a special tag such as a unique watermark (generally not visible to humans), radio frequency identification (”RFID”) device, or the like located on or near various exhibits, such a tag being detectable and/or identifiable by a DMP-enabled device via optical, RF, or other appropriate means.
• “no recording” DMP may be provided in the form of an audio signal, typically inaudible to human listeners, in connection with music or some other audio or audio/video reproduction.
• “no noise” or “no light” DMP may be provided  to watches with audible alarms, shoes with lights (as sometimes worn by children, for example), cameras, flashlights, cell phones, PDAs, or any other device that may benefit from compliance with a “no noise” or “no light” DMP.
• DMPs may be used in particular zones to limit the speed and/or acceleration of vehicles, to require the use of lights, to verify an indication of insurance coverage and/or current registration, or the like.
• DMPs may be propagated with acceptable usage times for mobile devices, such as when on an airplane with being restrictions common at times of landing and/or take-off.
• DMPs may be used to cause devices to be reconfigured for silent operation in locations such as libraries, court rooms, hospitals, meeting rooms, theatres, or the like.
• DMPs may be the result of voting or a consensus among current members of an ad-hoc network or the like. For example, the majority of current bus riders may agree upon and propagate “silence please” DMPs that cause cell phones to reconfigure for vibrate versus audible rings, that cause audio devices to work only with headphones, that cause gaming devise to switch to a silent mode of operation, and the like.

I really like most of the ideas described in here. But I’m not sure about the need or even use of patenting it.

In order for the whole scheme to work, Microsoft will have get all major cellphone makers on board. And then do some serious footwork convincing third parties about buying additional equipment, needed to implement DMP. And there’s not much point of implementing the whole thing on WinMo devices, if iPhones, Nokias, and Blackberries do not care about it.

Still, I think it’s an interesting approach to a problem. As our devices are getting smarter and smarter, it would be nice to see them getting some manners and social sense too.

• Sony Walkman: let’s use human body instead of headphone wires
• Nokia’s Ovi Store Enables Re-downloads
• Sprint makes its ETF more user-friendly
• M2E Power to release motion-powered mobile chargers next year
• Audio Notes Touch for Windows Mobile

My guess is Nokia has it’s hands full with developing an iPhone challenger with S60 Touch, and bringing the platform that made N95 possible to the masses. So the introduction of some additional, unproven, form factors is the last thing they want to do right now.

But that does not mean that all the experiments and ideas about new mobile phone interfaces and form factors has stopped at Nokia R&D labs. And from some patent filings that we got our hands on today, we can show you few more interesting handset interfaces/form factors that Nokia is trying out.

The first has to do with a swiveling phones similar to Nokia 7370. At first look, and when you open the phone in a right hand, it looks exactly like 7370:

But here’s what happens when you hold it in your left hand and open it:

Yep. A touchscreen appears instead of the normal keypad. This is done with the help of a clever hinge, which actually opens different layers, depending whether the top cover swivels to the right or left.

Here’s one more Nokia’s take on a touch interface:

A curved, touch sensitive scroll bar. It takes much less space then a circular touch pad and is very easy to operate with one hand. I can see quite a few Nokia handsets that would benefit from such set-up.

Another interesting form factor has to do with media players in mobile phones. If you are watching a 2 hour movie on your phone, holding it in your hand becomes annoying pretty fast. But if you put it on a table or on some other surface, you can’t actually see the screen.

Here’s one of the ways how Nokia decided to tackle this problem:

Not something really groundbreaking or original, but might be interesting to see in some specialized Nokia handsets.

We already told you that they’ve been testing various things with a live Nokia Aeon model, we’ve also written about new touch interfaces for Nokia handsets, and there’s that cool Nokia cameraphone from a few months ago, too.

So it looks like things are humming nicely in Nokia R&D labs, and some of the contraptions created there are very likely to become an exciting products. If only to know when and which ones

• Interactive keypad for Nokia phones
• Sony Ericsson’s bracelet phone
• Nokia E90 Communicator launch this week, entirely new type of mobile next year
• Nokia N96 live pictures leak!
• What’s cooking in Samsung R&D labs?

Most of the new ideas were left to experiment and introduce to LG – interesting touchpads on LG KF600, LG KF510 or LG Secret KF750, Samsung -interactive touchpads on it’s Soul and upcoming Samsung L870 Symbian smartphone, or Motorola -  really cool interactive keypad on Moto ROKR E8 or upcoming ZN5.

But that does not mean that Nokia has not been experimenting with the new user interfaces in their labs. As a recently available Nokia patent filing from 2006 shows, Nokia has been thinking about interactive/touchscreen keypads for a while now:

The patent application describes the mobile phone with dual screens, with the bottom one having capacitive touchscreen functionality and performing the interactive/programmable keypad functions. Between these two screens sits a usual Nokia keypad with physical hard or soft keys to perform most needed and used functions, like picking up or ending phone call, accessing menu items, etc.

Of course, this interactive keypad idea is not limited to candybar form factor and can be easily applied to Nokia sliders and flip phones as well:

While a pretty novel and interesting idea in 2006, when patent application was filed, right now now it’s pretty well known and in one form or the other has ben implemented in quite a few handsets.

Still, nobody has got all the details of touchscreen user interface on mobile phone quite right yet.

So a well implemented touchscreen keypad, combined with Nokia hapticos technology and the possibilities of the new S60 Touch, might lead to quite interesting handsets … eventually. When Nokia finally gets down to business and start really working on improving the user interfaces on their phones.

• New Nokia UI designs and form factors
• Pantech Sky IM-R200 With Touchscreen Keypad Gets Official
• Triple slider idea from Nokia
• What’s next for your Blackberry
• What’s cooking in Samsung R&D labs?

The backpacks, jackets and other clothing items, and even shoes with solar cells and electronic/conductive interfaces are pretty well known, if niche products. The proliferation of various portable devices that we “must” have on us all the time further facilitates this trend.

And, if this Philips patent application for a “Smart Handbag” ever becomes a real product, it might solve the problem caused by carrying too many gadgets at the same time once an for all Especially for you, ladies.

And what problems are they? Well, Philips describes them in the patent application pretty well:

“… as individuals often have more than one portable electronic device upon which they rely, and as all such devices are powered by portable means (i.e., batteries), individuals typically must charge all the respective portable power means individually. The process associated with servicing all of the portable devices to ensure that they are readily usable can be time consuming and inconvenient, especially when individuals are required to service all of the devices at or about the same time. Additionally, when individuals utilize these different portable devices to communicate with other remote electronic devices, the process associated therewith is often a bother, typically requiring an individual to carry a number of different connecting accessories (e.g., battery chargers, transformers, adapters, etc.). Hence, the effective management of the various electronic devices/accessories in terms of space, efficiency and use can often be an arduous task and despite efforts to date, there is still a need for improving how portable electronic devices are serviced, accessed and/or otherwise managed.”

Enter Philips Smart Bag to the rescue:

To help you cope with the portable device overload, Philips Smart Handbag will come equipped with special pockets where to put all your gadgets and integrated power source to charge them. The device pockets will be connected to the power source via electric conductive circuit, integrated into a handbag fabric. The conductive fabric will also have a possibility to connect different device pockets among themselves, so your mobile phone can talk to your iPod and to your camera.

Another important part of the handbag, is it’s strap. Philips Smart Handbag strap will be used to connect the devices in the handbag and it’s power source to the electric grid, and also to connect the gadgets in the bag to the external ones. This is achieved by equipping the strap with necessary electric circuitry, making it detachable from the handbag, and putting USB or similar interface on one side of the strap and electric power connectors on the other.

Just take one end of the handbag strap, plug it into USB port on your PC and you can instantly see and manage your iPod and Blackberry sitting inside the handbag. Take another end of the strap, plug it into a wall socket – your bag battery, with all your devices are charging handsomely.

And, there’s one more thing. With current advances in e-ink technologies, flexible screens and garment electronics, why not put an additional control interface onto the same handbag strap. It can be just simple buttons to turn various functions on and off, but, when technology become available, it can also be some sort of flexible touchscreen for advance management and communication functions.

Or, this interface can just be a pluggable remote control, that you’ll carry in your pocket.

• Philips Xenium 9@9j now official
• Mojo Mobility develops Near Field Power method to charge multiple devices at once
• Survey: 31,544 mobile phones left behind in NYC Taxis for past six months
• Philips K700 and X501 coming soon
• Philips X800 Xenium 9@9 reviewed. Comes with 35 days of stand-by!

But what about doing things the other way around?

Instead of trying to cram the camera functionality into a mobile phone, why not add the phone functionality, or at least mobile data part of it, to the digital still and video cameras.

Not to make them into a phones, but to provide modern cameras with the same data connectivity options that even the simplest camera in mobile handset has.

Wouldn’t that be a good idea?

Sony Ericsson apparently thinks so and has no less then four patent applications to prove it.

The idea is simple:

• put a wireless card/adapter inside a digital camera or into a separate wireless adapter, capable of connecting to any available wireless network, including GSM, CDMA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Bluetooth, etc;
• dedicate some flash memory for storing the settings to various external services like Flickr, Picasa or Blogger and devices like PCs, printers or network connected TVs.
• add some software code for different usage scenarios, and tweaking/configuration/action options.

That’s it. With the help of Moore’s law, expanding mobile data network capacities, dropping data transfer rates and a little software magic, you might not have to worry about the full memory cards in your camera, or the necessity to remember to download your pictures from camera to your PC soon.

Your camera may be able to do that automatically, almost anywhere and almost anytime you take a new picture. And even put all the pictures and videos in the right place with a single push of the shutter button.

Of course, that’s a little bit of exaggeration for now. But, despite a very real possibility that cameraphones will soon completely displace digital still/point-and-shoot cameras, the higher end imaging devices like DSLRs, prosumer quality video cameras, etc; would not be subsumed by the wireless gadget makers anytime soon.

However, there’s no reason for the capabilities provided by seamless wireless connectivity not be available to all imaging devices around. And the success of the products such as Eye-Fi clearly shows that there is a real demand for a well implemented wireless connection there.

I’m not really sure how well patentable the ideas described in Sony Ericsson’s applications are, but it’s good to see that one of the biggest camera and phone vendors is seriously thinking about these issues.

• Sprint to offer wireless services to Garmin, Kodak and SanDisk devices?
• Sony Ericsson Cybershot with 3x optical zoom and WVGA display to be launched this week. Only in Japan, unfortunately
• RFID Tags for Apple devices. Wi-Fi Enabled Apple Remote, iPod and Other Peripherals
• T-Mobile Launches 3G Network In Las Vegas
• Optical zoom is coming to Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot phones