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

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.

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.

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

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 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

The most popular Nokia products have been their candybar phones. While feature phones suit the needs of millions of users, the hot end of the market (and frankly the interesting part) is clearly smart phones. While Nokia’s premium N line of phones have been around for a while, post N95 they’ve taken a back seat to the iPhone, at least in mind share.

Nokia’s aiming to rejuvenate interest in their N lineup with the new Nokia N8 smart phone. The N8 will go head to head with the leading smart phones, Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy S, Motorolla’s Milestone and soon to be a slew of WP7 devices.

The N8 has a decent spec sheet on paper (12MP camera, HD video w/in-phone editing, HDMI out, free GPS, AMOLED screen. Unfortunately the phone falls short in a couple of key areas, it runs Symbian 3 and has a 3.5” screen that only runs 640×360, sadly this means the awesome TVC is really more impressive than the phone is. The ad focuses on what enthusiasts do with their technology – “It’s not technology, its what you do with it, that’s what really impresses us.” There’s a couple of crazy examples, one of which is a mobile phone controlling a game of snake on the side of a building and another involving a hamster powered phone charger. Nokia asks the question.. “The Nokia N8, what will you do with it ?”

Overall its a fantastic ad, shot and edited brilliantly, be sure to check it in HD if bandwidth permits, your eyes will thankyou later.

More @ Engadget and Nokia

The latest and greatest Smart Phone is about have its very own launch event in the US. If your really keen, you can tune into the Gizmodo Liveblog at 1PM US Eastern Time (Around 8am AEDST) tomorrow morning to get all the juicy details.

The Nexus One is particularly interesting as it’ll be the first phone to run Android OS 2.1. Pricing leaks indicate a US$530 unlocked. Don’t bother with a US-to-Aus converter, we’re all familiar with the Australian Electronics tax. My guess is you should expect around the A$700-A$800 range. I wouldn’t expect any Australian carrier support and subsidy tomorrow, although that may come in the future. Engadget got hands on with what they believe to be the production model and just posted a very timely review [Engadget].

What is interesting, is that the leaked Nexus One documentation, is this little gem – “There is language in the agreement of shipping outside the US”. Can we conclude from this that the Nexus One will be available via Google’s website with delivery options for Australia ? It’s hard to be sure at this point. Good news is we’ll know soon enough – tomorrow.

I love my iPhone, but I also really want there to be a viable alternative.

Update
Overnight the Google event happened and the official site is now live – http://google.com/phone – you’ll notice when visiting the site from an Australian IP, the right hand side of the page has this message – “Sorry, the Nexus One phone is not available in your country.”

As pointed out by GDGt’s coverage – “As of today Google is shipping to US, UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong.”