Handsets
Google G1’s First Impressions [Wall Street Journal]
The first Android handset, the G1, was introduced this week by T-Mobile. Despite mixed reviews, WSJ’s Walt Mossberg pretty much summed it up when he said, “The G1 is a powerful, versatile device which will offer users a real alternative in the new handheld computing category the iPhone has occupied alone.”
Video released demonstrating Google-powered Android apps [Mobile Crunch]
Coinciding with the G1 intro, Google released a demo video to show off the preloaded Android platform. It looks very… Googley, stocked with basics like Search, Maps, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar and IM (Google Talk).
Samsung Camera Phones: Pre-Loaded with Barcode-Reading Software [Marketing Vox]
Starting in October, Samsung phones in Spain, Italy, and Denmark [US and Mexico soon after] will come standard with ScanLife mobile barcode recognition software which decrypts photographed barcodes.
Auto
Nissan, NTT DOCOMO and Sharp Jointly Develop World’s First Mobile Phone with Built-in Intelligent Key
Kiss your keychain goodbye. Nissan, NTT DOCOMO and Sharp have developed technology that lets you start your car with your phone. Nissan’s Intelligent Key system, which uses a Sharp handset, is available NOW as a standard feature in various Nissan vehicles—in Japan, of course.
LBS
Nokia viNe: Location-based content sharing [Mobile Arsenal]
Nokia will soon make its latest location-based content sharing service called viNe available on its Beta Labs site. Based on the Nokia Sports Tracker, it lets you not only share routes, but also pictures, sounds and videos recorder along the way.
Art
Chanel Mobile Art by Jaha Hadid
The concept of “mobile” isn’t just about handsets. The legendary architect Jaha Hadid has constructed a giant mobile art piece for Chanel. It will be traveling from Hong Kong to Tokyo, and then from Tokyo to New York’s Central Park.
Trends & Research
Making an Educated Choice in the Cleaning Aisle [Ad Age]
More and more, consumers want to know where their products came from, and brands are telling them. Seventh Generation’s new campaign uses a mobile web app to do this: people can use the app to look up ingredients at the point of purchase, in the grocery aisle, to determine what’s “safe.”
Americans text more than they talk [CNET]
According to Nielsen Mobile, Americans now send and receive an average of 357 text messages per month, a nearly 5.5 fold increase when compared with 2006. Much of the 2.5billion text messages per day in America come from 13-17 year old teens, who average 1742 messages/month.
Social Networking
TechCrunch50: Talk to the Dead with Virsona [PCMag]
Feel like you need a clone to manage your online social life? Virsona may be your answer. Their community has “Virtual Personas” that are “created to Reason, Remember and React in the same way that a living, fictional or historical person would.” The service uses Q&As, chatlogs and other inputted data to churn out “typical” IM responses for community members, Marilyn Monroe, even your dead dog.
New York Times Launches TimesPeople Social Networking Site [Mashable]
The Grey Lady gets social with a new site that allows users to share recommendations, comments, ratings and reviews of NYT content.
Accessories
Sony Ericsson Intros Bluetooth Watches for Women [Gearlog]
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Fossil has paird with Sony Ericsson to create the women’s MBW-200 line of Bluetooth-enabled watches. They will “display caller-ID, vibrate when a call or text comes through,” and allow you to reject or mute a call using the watch.
Marketing
Paramount’s Eagle Eye Mobile Campaign [Fierce Wireless]
At USA Today’s Ad Week panel “Going Mobile, the Possibilities are Limitless…”, Sandi Isaacs from Paramount talked about this mobile campaign for Eagle Eye (launching this weekend!!!). The interactive sweepstakes mimics the movie theme with a sort of mobile-driven scavenger hunt. They just called us back to tell us to go see the movie.
Unilever Increases Teen Awareness with Multi-Faceted Mobile Campaign [Mobile Marketing Association]
Unilever recently teamed with Nokia to release a phone in Brazil that was customized to deliver desired product information (in this case, shampoo). With mobile booming in BRIC, partnerships like these will probably be more common, with the phone itself acting as part of the message.
Subway, Best Buy advertise on Hothand’s University Mobile Network [Mobile Marketer]
Best Buy Mobile and Subway are helping Hothand expand its University Mobile network, which uses the mobile wap and SMS to promote intramural and recreational activities on campus.
Opinion
Technology Doesn’t Dumb Us Down. It Frees Our Minds. [New York Times]
It’s the digital dialectic: For all the new technologies that increase our productivity, there are others that distract us. On balance, though, Twitter is your friend.
Health
Trend: Health Phones [Cscout]
Pedometers and heart rate monitors made their debut in this year’s Wireless Japan Expo. Between this sort of self-prevention and the sure to come advances in patient monitoring and health information exchange – cell phones could become your first (and last) aid kit.
Web service tells you what stresses you out [CNET]
RSS readers and social media feeds can make us feel like Lucy at the chocolate factory — it’s hard to keep up. A new service called Me-trics helps you to manage all this technology — with technology, of course. It correlates your stress level with the other things going on in and around your life using a simple mobile interface.
