Start your car with your phone! Introducing VIPER SmartStart
Posted Friday, November 11, 2011 at 6:13 pm by Jason Cartwright
In one of the coolest uses of technology, VIPER SmartStart from Directed Electronics allows your to unlock and start your car’s engine remotely. Using either iPhone, Android or Blackberry, the VIPER app communicates with your car to lock and unlock your doors, pop the boot, sound a panic alarm and even start your engine !
Just to show off, the guys at Directed Electronics recently set a world record by starting a vehicle remotely from 16,000kms away ! Why you would ever want to do that is beyond me, but hey if it impresses your friends, good for you.
To get this magic to work we clearly need hardware in the car to communicate with the vehicle electronic systems and your smart phone app. This is done with the purchase and installation of a SmartStart DSM250i module into the vehicle. Unfortunately there’s a yearly subscription to pull off this futuristic functionality.
The Viper SmartStart module will be available in early November 2011, available from selected retail outlets for A$399 plus installation. Subscriptions start at $69 per year up to $129 for the GPS tracking, so as usual, being on the bleeding edge of technology comes at a premium. Still this is kind of awesome, if you get a Christmas bonus, you may want to consider the VIPER StartSmart and impress your friends.
More info @ vipersecurity.com.au
Top apps still missing from WP7
Posted Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 11:50 pm by Jason Cartwright
There has definitely been a lull in WP7 releases of late, undoubtedly due to developers holding off till they can ship Mango compatible versions. We’re likely to see a flood of updated and new apps hit the marketplace soon, until then I thought its worth highlighting which mainstream apps that are still unavailable for the Windows Phone platform.
These apps may be contributing factors to consumers purchasing devices running Android or iOS, ‘it’s all about the apps’ being a catch phrase that rings true with many. This list isn’t compiled to take a swipe at WP7, but rather highlight the partnerships (cheques) Microsoft need to write to get these apps on-board.
Words with Friends
The incredibly successful social scrabble is available on iOS and Android, but missing from WP7. Sure there’s an attempt to copy it with AlphaJax, but playing against your friends is a critical feature.
Google +
Like it or not, people like Google+. Sure WP7 may have social services integrated, but one not on that list is Google+. A dedicated app would check the box for those Google+ fans.
Banking apps
There has been half a dozen occasions over the past year where being able to transfer money between accounts has been a must. Unfortunately Commonwealth Bank and St.George are the only Aussie banks with apps for WP7.
TV Apps
Almost all free-to-air TV channels now have applications on other platforms. A prime example is ABC and its in-app News24 Live Stream.
Shopping
Coles and Woolworths both have apps to aid in shopping for groceries, while not the most exciting use of a mobile app, its one that’s used weekly.
Squarespace
Sure WordPress may be the dominant blogging platform, but there’s a pretty decent competitor rising to success. Squarespace blogs are easy to create and maintain.. unless your mobile and have a WP7. There’s a WordPress and Tumblr app, for that growing number of Squarespace users, there needs to be a dedicated app.
Consume
The unified account keeping application Consume is undoubtedly awesome. Supporting way more accounts than you can think of, sadly WP7 owners don’t get to use it.
The good news is this list is a lot shorter than it was 12, or even 6 months ago. There is good progress being made in the WP7 app marketplace (hey, they have Angry Birds now), but there’s still some key apps that need to be on the platform for it to be a viable option for some.
Review: Sony Ericsson Experia Arc
Posted Monday, June 20, 2011 at 7:20 pm by Jason Cartwright
The Xperia Arc is Sony Ericsson’s centrepiece in their smartphone line-up. The 4.2” display is encased in a sexy thin and light body and is one impressive piece of engineering. Powered by Android 2.3.2 (Gingerbread), the Xperia Arc is valid competitor in today’s smartphone market.
The Arc feels good in your hand and while photos show off how thin it is, the weight can’t be under-rated. While I’ve never found an iPhone4 to be heavy (137 grams), the weight difference is noticeable. Connectivity is another strong point of the Xperia arc, with HDMI out and Micro USB, as well as all your standard wireless tech. Having a standard USB cable that plugs into a wall charger is also appreciated.
The camera may well be 8.1 Megapixels and record 720p video, I wasn’t blown away by the end result. While it may not be the best on the market, its solid and owners of the Arc can share online sans embarrassment. The physical camera button is positioned in an awkward position and didn’t feel as natural as it could have. Still smart phones are about device convergence, and the Xperia Arc will save you carrying a dedicated camera for day-to-day use.
The on-screen keyboard of the Arc is solid and with the large display, it is pretty easy to type on. When mistakes inevitably happen, placing the cursor between the characters and modifying text is a simple task.
The Arc integrates accounts solidly. Naturally Google is supported well, but Facebook is equally well catered for. Just enter your account details and your contact list and photo library grow to support Facebook. Your Facebook friend updates are surfaced on the front page with Timescape. A sliding tile UI that encompasses Facebook, Twitter, text messages and emails, surfacing the latest info. During my time with the Arc, I found this a very useful widget, my only wish was that it supported more sizes.
Specifications
Dimensions: 125.0 × 63.0 × 8.7 mm
Weight: 117.0 grams
Display: 4.2” TFT, 854×480 pixels
Storage: 1GB internal, microSD card slot supports up to 32GB
Camera: 8.1 Megapixel (720p video recording, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus)
Connectivity: HDMI, Micro USB, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS
Google Android OS
The Xperia Arc is powered by Android 2.3.2, this is .2 releases away from the most recent version of Android. No word on whether the Xperia Arc will receive either 2.3.4 or Ice cream sandwich, as with all Android updates, its very much wait and see. Installing apps via https://market.android.com/ and having them pushed wirelessly to the phone was a great experience and frankly should be available for all smartphones OS’s. If only we could arrange our home screen icons on the desktop as well, think I’d rather touch my eyeball with a hot needle.
Gallery
Overall
The Xperia Arc is a very, very solid entrant to the hotly contested smart phone war. The market leader is the iPhone4 and as yet there is still no screen or camera on the market that beats it. That said I enjoyed my time with the Xperia Arc and would be happy using it as my personal phone, if only I wasn’t hundreds of dollars invested in iOS apps.
When you think of smart phones, Sony Ericsson probably doesn’t immediately jump to mind, but now with the Xperia Arc on the market, I suggest it should. A solid job Sony, my only suggestion now is to drop the Ericsson name, it continues to remind me of the traditional 1-line displays from Ericsson in the 90’s.
WP7 Nodo, less than a month away, still no specific date.
Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 10:02 pm by Jason Cartwright
In the very early hours of the morning, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer keynoted in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress 2011. Naturally Ballmer spent time discussing the recent Nokia deal, but then called on Joe Belfiore to demonstrate some of the upcoming WP7.5 (Mango) features due later this year. These included:
- IE9 Mobile with hardware acceleration
- Multitasking (read: fast-app switching)
- SkyDrive integration
- Kinect support
Problem is, there’s actually an update WP7 users are waiting for now. Originally scheduled for January, it’s now been delayed till the ‘first couple of weeks in March’. So how is that the first update to the WP7 platform is less than a month away, but Microsoft seems completely incapable of locking down an actual release date. It’ll be 6 months since WP7 devices started shipping before the first update to the platform lands.
Image credit: Miss karen
Telstra revamp consumer data caps, massive increases
Posted Monday, November 22, 2010 at 8:54 pm by Jason Cartwright
Today Telstra continued its march into competitiveness with a revamp of its mobile data caps. These changes only affect consumer plans, but are available to new and existing customers. Some deals seen the download cap increase by 500%, making for a very competitive offering. No longer are Telstra going for the ‘premium price on a premium network’ model, but rather great prices to get as many customers as they can. After strong competition in this space, the choice to change tact was inevitable if Telstra wanted to stop customers form jumping ship.
While the headline of the blog post announcing the new caps was related to using more social networking, the fact is that more data can be used in any way you like. As commenters point out, its still important to make sure you don’t use more than your allocated amount to avoid overage fees.
Pay as you go
Cap plans
As you can see from the tables above, the entry level changes increase data limits from 200MB to 1GB, that’s a 5x increase. This also means the pay as you go plan be reduced to $10 per GB.
More @ Telstra
Dell Streak arrives on Optus October 1 (next Friday)
Posted Friday, September 24, 2010 at 2:00 am by Jason Cartwright
Dell have announced a partnerships with Optus to sell the Dell Stream in Australia from October 1st. The Streak will go on sale for $0 upfront on a $59 cap or those looking for more freedom can buy it outright for A$649.
Dell are calling the Streak a 5 inch tablet, but that seems to be more of a marketing effort to cash in on the tablet hype rather than it being an actual tablet offering. The size seems a little awkward its really a massive smart phone. Dell say the Streak’s size hits a sweet spot with a “spacious 5-inch screen is ideal for experiencing thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, all without squinting or compromising portability”.
Unfortunately the Dell Streak will launch running Android 1.6 (Donut) with Dell user interface enhancements, but will get an over the air update to Android 2.2 (Froyo) later this year. At that stage the Streak will support Adobe Flash 10.1, something not many other devices can. What that experience is actually like, remains to be seen, only time will tell.
The Dell Streak is powered by Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor and while the battery is replaceable, there’s no word on how much life users can expect. With a 5 inch screen, and running an old version of android, it’d be smart to keep a charged second battery close by.
DELL STREAK FEATURES
- Integrated Google Maps, street and satellite views
- A full screen browsing experience with a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display
- Easily integrated social media apps: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
- Removable battery, built-in Wi-Fi, mobile broadband and Bluetooth connectivity options
- 2GB of internal storage
DELL STREAK SPECIFICATIONS
More information at http://dell.com.au/streak
Follow conversations in the blogosphere: #DellStreak
