Although not the first Google Mobile client to feature voice searching, Google have now released that functionality for their BlackBerry client too. More importantly, this client also supports British English for the voice searching.  It should work on any BlackBerry running OS/4.2 and above, although it is not currently compatible with the BlackBerry Storm, and of course, cannot be installed if your corporate BlackBerry has been locked such that additional software cannot be added.  It also has the “My Location” functionality built in, allowing you to search by location too.

A little more information available direct from Google here.

The Nokia N97 is going to be one of the key releases for Nokia this year.  It’s timed to arrive around the same time as the updated iPhones, which may or may not work in Nokia’s favour, depending how much revolution Apple add.  However, in the meantime, here’s a video of the new Nokia with recaps of some of the main features of the device….

If the video does not display for you, please click here.

Last week, Google released a YouTube client for Symbian S60 (and Windows Mobile devices).  It supports a wide range of handsets, including all the current popular devices (Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia E71, Nokia N86) and offers automatic selection of the best stream quality based on device and network connection speed, including Wi-Fi streaming.  Users simply need to head to m.youtube.com where you should be offered the download.

After the update released a couple of weeks ago for Windows Live Messenger on the INQ1 phone, an email update is now available too.  You can either go to Menu > Apps > MShop > INQ and then select to download the new email client, or shortly it will also be available as an automatic update which you will be notified of simply by logging into the email application.

Both of these parts seem to be part of the Update1 we have mentioned before, so we may well see more updates coming.  We’re still keen to see enhancements, not just bug fixes, though.

For a long time there have been very few good options for accessing Twitter on a Symbian S60 device (except dabr, a web based service which we recommend all users should try to see the whole range of features a twitter access client should offer).  However, some people don’t want to use a web based service, and although there are some Java clients, these never quite take full advantage of the Symbian S60 experience.

Well, now, it looks like there will soon be at least 2, if not 3 twitter clients to choose between (plus other options).  Today, Gravity (by mobileways) has been released, and from the feedback from the early testers, this is one very well developed twitter client.  mobileways have produced products like their wirelessIRC client, and so are well used to developing clients like this.  In fact, they have already started talking about which additional Social Networking sites they will add support for in upcoming versions.

Later this week, Twittix from MojosMobile will be released too.

This looks like it will offer a similar experience, and it will be interesting to be able to compare the two.  Neither will be free, but trial versions may well be available over the next few weeks.  MojosMobile are behind other interesting apps, such as GreenPhone, which aims to schedule different brightness levels on the phone at different times of the day to handle the different lighting conditions you will encounter, and to help preserve battery life.

Finally, Marcelo Barros de Almeida, the developer of WordMobi, a Symbian wordpress client, has already released IAmDoing, although Marcelo admits some key twitter functions are currently missing.  However, this particular product should remain free, so is a potential alternative.  It relies upon Python, which although this shouldn’t be a big issue for most people.

If that’s not enough, fring have announced that later today they will roll out “full twitter” support within their S60 and Windows Mobile clients too!

Right now, our money is on Gravity, but mainly because of the plans to expand the functionality into other Social Networking sites too.

Gravity screenshot courtesy of Gerry at nokiAAdict.com, one of the early testers of the product.

Last year, Twitter had to turn off their SMS notification service due to the costs involved to them.  Now, Vodafone UK have announced that for their customer, the service has returned.  Even better, for the “first few weeks”, this service will be absolutely free, and after that, sending SMSes will come out of the customer’s text bundle, or will be charged at their out of bundle rate. However, for the foreseeable future, all SMSes sent by Twitter to the Vodafone customer will remain free, although this is subject to a fair use limit of 500 SMS per month.

This service is provided via a short code, so if a Vodafone customer wants to send a tweet, an @reply, or a request to follow another user, they can by sending an SMS to 86444.

To receive messages, you need to configure twitter with your UK Vodafone mobile number, and select which users who wish to receive messages from (this part is especially key with that 500 message limit).

This is an interesting development, and it’s nice to see Vodafone first; Vodafone seem to be leading the way with providing services across multiple devices (see their last.fm client from last year), whereas the other networks have either concentrated on simply providing internet access.  Of course, 3UK have the INQ1 phone, but that is a single phone, and even that device does not yet support twitter.

Let’s see which is the next network to offer free twitter support, or will this mean Vodafone become the network of choice for people who want to stay connected with other people whilst out and about…

Vodafone’s announcement is here, and Twitter’s here, although I’ll note neither publicise the 500 limit at all.

Fancy a new phone, but don’t want to be tied into a new contract?  Want to try out 3UK, but don’t want to risk being tied into the network for 18 or 24 months.  How about a 6 month contract then?

3UK have recently improved their 6 month contract options, and you can now get a wider range of phones, including the INQ1 handset.  This allows you to try out the new Social Networking INQ1 handset for £15 or £18 per month, and get 300 or 500 cross network minutes, plus a whole range of extra (free voicemail, an additional 300 3UK-3UK minutes per month).

In Mobile Broadband news, 3UK are now offering their 15GB per month service for only £15 per month (on a 24 month contract).  This represents very good value for high usage users, and is a great saving over their 18 month contract option.

Finally, 3UK are also currently offering the Nokia E71 at only £20 per month on their Texter Plan.  Now, the only downside is that the Texter plan does not come with free voicemail, but to make up for this, at £20 per month (18 month contract) this includes 200 cross network minutes, “unlimited” texts (now now 3UK, it’s not unlimited, it’s capped at 3000 texts), internet access, and “unlimited” 3UK-3UK calls (again with an actual limit).

You might want to move fast though, if you are interested, as these offers are currently set to expire at the end of the month.

We’ve been a big fan of mobbler, the Symbian S60 client for last.fm, which allows you to scrobble your tracks (record what you have listened to), and also access and play last.fm radio streams.  However, this week, last.fm have made two statements which may not help mobbler…

Firstly, due to the lack of an established ad business, last.fm have found it difficult to find advertisers to cover their costs outside of 3 main countries, UK, USA and Germany, and hence all subscribers outside of those countries will need to subscribe and pay €3 per month for access what will remain the “free” service here in the UK.

However, the key issue is their second announcement, which signals the end of 3rd party clients using unofficial API calls to access the streamed music.  These old APIs will be switched off (potentially by the end of next week) and new music streaming APIs will be used instead.  These new APIs are available to developers to use within their clients, so, unlike some news reports, last.fm are not preventing 3rd party clients from working, simply ensuring that they use the right code to access the streams.  There are 2 key points:

Firstly, only subscribers will be able to stream music, unless the developer of the client enters into a specific deal with last.fm

Secondly, last.fm have said that their license prevents the streams being streamed to mobile phones.

Ironically, further clarification seemed to have muddied the water even further.  last.fm have stated that this decision is not “set in stone” (which seems bizarre if it’s a licensing issue).  Also, last.fm official Android and iPhone/iPod Touch clients do not seem to be affected by this.  Finally, they have confirmed that the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, as it is does not contain a SIM card, is not affected, and the 3rd party client Vagalume will still be ok (presumably if it supports the new API).  What’s odd about this is that a common method of connecting the N810 to the Internet is via Bluetooth and a mobile phone, so ironically, you will be able to listen to last.fm on an N810 whilst out and about, but won’t be able to listen via your Nokia E71 using Wi-Fi at home (as it’s a device issue, not the actual network connection)…

last.fm need to reconsider this; limiting music streaming to paying subscribers should help ensure a steady revenue model to cover the costs of paying royalties, and allow all users to continue to enjoy the music they want to listen to.

It should be pointed out that there are other 3rd party clients affected, the Pocket Scrobbler on Windows Mobile and FlipSide on the BlackBerry will also be affected.  However, neither the Vodafone S60 last.fm client nor 3UK’s INQ1 phone will be affected, as these only supported scrobbling (which remains free and unchanged) and had no music streaming support.

Update: last.fm have now stated “I’m working with third-party mobile client authors at the moment, and I’m fairly confident that we can allow them to use the new API in mobile mode for subscribers” and “I am working to make sure that existing mobile clients like Mobbler will get grandfathered in”, and last.fm have re-confirmed that only paying subscribers will be able to stream music; why they didn’t simply state this, along with the change in API we don’t know, instead of announcing and now, in essence, withdrawing their statements over mobile phone streaming.

Here’s the new Canon EOS 500D, shown with it’s US Rebel branding.  This new camera takes functions from both the Canon EOS 50D and the Canon 5D Mark II, resulting in the following spec:

• 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor
• HD video capture
• 3.0-inch Clear View LCD (920,000 dots/VGA) monitor
• Auto Lighting Optimizer, Creative Auto Mode and Canon’s Live View modes
• continuous shooting at 3.4 fps for up to 170 large/fine JPEG images or up to nine RAW images in a single burst when using a class 6 or higher SD or SDHC memory card
• ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 in whole stop increments, along with two additional high-speed ISO settings – H1: 6400 and H2: 12800
• nine-point Autofocus (AF) system
• 16:9 720p HD video capture at 30 fps
• Full HD 1080p video capture at 20 fps
• record video up to 4GB per clip equaling approximately 12 minutes of Full HD video, 18 minutes of 720p HD video, or 24 minutes of SD video depending on the level of detail in the scene
• built-in monaural microphone to record sound
• HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) output
• three Live View AF modes – Quick, Live and Face Detection Live mode
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System

It looks like it will sell for less than £1000 with the 18-55mm Kit lens.

O2 (well, Telefonica) and Vodafone have announced that they have reached a milestone in their plans for mobile network infrastructure sharing.  Across Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK (and possible the Czech Republic in the future) the two companies will work to share sites.  They will look to share new mast sites (ie both co-locate their equipment at the same site), but also consolidate existing sites, resulting in potentially less sites overall, but still offering the customer good coverage.  They also talk about sharing existing antennas, although they add “In the UK and Ireland, the elements of the network to be shared include: masts, antennas, sites, cabinets and power supply. The network electronics Nodes B (3G), BTS (2G) and the radio network controllers which are linked to the core network are to remain independent.”

In particular:

• Germany: Both companies to share existing 2G and 3G sites. Shared masts can also be used for microwave backhaul.
• Ireland: Both companies to open all network sites for sharing by the other party. New build will also be conducted jointly where roll-out plans are aligned.
• Spain: Both companies to extend existing site share agreement from 2007, which includes the shared usage of power, cabinets and mast. To date 2,200 sites are shared under this agreement. During 2009 and 2010 additional sites will be included.
• UK: Both companies to focus on joint build of new sites and consolidation of existing 2G and 3G sites.

This should benefit the user in both increased coverage, and by reducing operating costs, it will allow the companies to concentrate on “developing innovative products and services for customers”.

This is similar to the T-Mobile / 3UK agreement just over a year ago.