MWC Day 2 Summary: NVIDIA Tegra, DorothyBrowser, IP Roaming, Free Blackberry Server, Skype WinMo Announcement Tomorrow
Hello from Day Two of Mobile World Congress!Well... my shoulders are now killing me from carrying my bag of swag, and my feet are really aching already... but another fun packed day at MWC 2010...
NVIDIA TEGRA SHOWING HD VIDEO
OK, so the idea of a GPU being able to process HD Video is nothing new... how about doing it in a mobile device? Yep... Mobile HD...
NVIDIA and Adobe were showing off their streaming HD video onto what could only be described as a prototype iPad killer... this device uses a 1/100th of the processing power of a desktop to produce better results from the GPU. Meaning streaming a live HD feed off the net uses just 150mW (0.15W or 1/10th of an energy saving lightbulb) of power. Plus the development board it was built on was only as big as an A5 piece of paper, combine it with a high definition touch-screen, and this device was something to write home... or a blog entry... about. And the NVIDIA guy estimates a retail price of $300 (£190) which means it's already on my Christmas List!
I'll get pictures for you later in the week...
DOROTHY BROWSER FOR WINDOWS MOBILE
Ever get that feeling of "oh, here's another Windows Mobile App", well at the end of today, that's exactly what I thought when I came across "Company 100" and their "Dorothy Browser", how wrong was I? I'm just talking from my initial reactions, but I'm installing it at the moment and will report back... Basically it's like Opera and SkyFire but without all the bloat. Just a web browser, that uses multi-level zoom in and out to allow better display of the pages.
Normally I am a bastion of "Mobile Web" and making pages available to mobile devices through accessibility and careful design... but I do have to admit that I can't stop using pages just because they're too lazy to implement those kind of tricks.
So this may be the answer... well until Christmas, when Microsoft's promise of a new Internet Explorer browser comes to life...
IP ROAMING WITH ROIP (ROAM OVER IP)
OK, so you go to, say, a Mobile World Congress, in say, Barcelona, and you land and want to quickly catch up on your email... not a problem because your laptop, say like mine, has a built in 3G card, so you open up and go... then you get your phone bill for £1.50/MB... Meaning my usual 3GB of bandwidth a month has just cost me £4,500... not funny! And worse, not necessary!
A Singapore based company called "IP Roaming" thinks they may have the answer, a Multi-SIM card, WiFi Roaming Agreements, and some software for your laptop means that you just open up and start paying local rates straight away. No longer do you need to pick up a local SIM, no more £4,500 phone bills, it just works.
So why's no one done it before? Basically, Politics! They have been struggling to get networks on board, obviously because this could damage their profit margins a bit But they are getting somewhere...
Expect to see more from http://www.roamoverip.com/ in the second half of next year.
BLACKBERRY SERVER TO BE FREE?
This morning at the Blackberry Developer's Day Keynote, it was announced that Blackberry will giving away versions of it's server FREE... yep... their biggest money maker, FREE. Obviously they haven't lost their minds completely, they've probably realised that by getting people hooked on the server, they'll get hooked on the devices. Best of luck to them...
In other news from Blackberry... Adobe appeared again... I'm starting to get the feeling they're either stalking me or they're just EVERYWHERE at the moment. While having a chat with a Canadian investment broker, one thing did occur to me though... when he asked the question "so will this show make you code for Blackberry now?" my answer was "No", "But I'm definitely coding in Flash!". Adobe seem to have got within a whisker of finally creating the single application platform we've all been looking for. More on that later, as I'm hoping to join the beta testing for the new mobile players...
AND FINALLY (god this has been a long blog to write) SKYPE WINDOWS MOBILE RUMOURS
Talking to the guys at the Skype Coffee Shop, sorry, Internet Cafe, sorry Sales Stand, sorry... actually what was that? Anyway, talking to the guys at the Skype branded free coffee and calling stand at MWC, an announcement is going to be made tomorrow via the Skype blog with regard to the future of Skype on Windows Mobile. Hmmm.... two things cross my mind... 1) New Client that supports the handset speaker, or 2) Confirmation of Skype being built into the Windows Phone 7 Series as default.
Anyway... we'll wait an see...
OK, that's me done.
On a personal note... I tried to get into the back of as many BBC Click shots as I could today, but don't think I managed to get into a take they kept! Too bad they've gone home now... but still watch out for me loitering with intent behind oblivious presenters telling you all you need to know from MWC...
Speak tomorrow...
Rich
