When we covered the WikiReader here, the offline wikipedia device last week, we weren’t sure whether or not it would support software updates.  Well, we had a brief chat with the manufacturers (OpenMoko, the same guys who were behind the FreeRunner linux based mobile phone) and they have confirmed that there are two ways of performing software updates.

• Firstly, and the easiest way; each wikipedia data update will ship on SD card with the latest software / firmware for the device (the SD card delivery option is a chargeable option). For those who download the free 4GB image instead, this will also contain the software update when released (they plan to release wikipedia updates twice a year on SD card and quarterly for download).
• Secondly, if you are really keen, you can actually access their source code and compile it yourself! For those not quite that keen, we believe you can also access a pre-compiled copy of the software providing you access to any new functions / bugfixes from the same website, although for many, it will be easier to stick to the SD card image updates.

This is good news, and we are always supportive of companies who not just produce units, but continue to support them into the future; okay the device may only get 1 or 2 minor software updates, but if the company ever completely gave up on the device, we reckon it wouldn’t be long before an enterprising developer (or community) would step in and help out.  As it is, the device has ongoing support, and apparently takes about 6 days in shipping time between the US and Europe (although watch out for the UK Postal Strikes getting in the way).

We also chatted about the update service, and although they will be producing quarterly updates available to download, the SD card option will be $29  shipping for two updates per year, so, assuming the same $19.20 shipping charge applies, that will be $29 + 2 * $19.20, so still less than $70 all in.

As part of 3UK’s major plans to improve their network across the UK, 3UK have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is London.  Already hitting capacity in certain areas, it makes sense to me to start with London to roll out what should end up as a faster, better network, which is one of the two areas 3UK really still need to work on (the other being Customer Services, but that’s not unique to 3UK).  So, to achieve this, there are going to be some outages required, but 3UK are being open and upfront about this, and have even produced a webpage dedicated to these upgrades showing when and where they will happen.  If you go to www.three.co.uk/london, you will see the information for yourself (although over time this webpage may well change to reflect other areas of the country), and you can also sign up for text alerts to be alerted to these issues (which allows you to enter a 3UK mobile number, a non-3UK mobile number; nice option!, and up to 4 postcodes, to allow you to cover home and work, and a couple of other places too!).

Importantly, it looks like from next week until just before Christmas, you may find you lose 3G signal for around 6-8 hours; a mobile phone should drop to Orange’s 2G network for the period (although watch out, mobile data will be less reliable, and much slower), whereas Mobile Broadband users will not be able to connect at all during the outage.

Also from that page, you can enter your postcode (or town name) and it will tell you about any planned outages in your area; for the area around my home, for example, it tells me they performed some work last week, and have more planned for today, which might result in an outage for me; now, if they improve my home 3UK network signal, that’s no bad thing as far as I’m concerned, and well worthy of a few hours of no signal.

These upgrades are all part of 3UK’s plans to build their “Monster Network”, which I first covered briefly when I met with 3UK last month, and they plan to have all these major outages completed by the Summer of 2010 when their much improved network should be fully online.  Having seen their planned coverage map at the end of these works, we should all see a lot less areas of no 3G coverage, and improved capacity in key areas too.

3UK have just announced that they are now selling the Sony Ericsson Satio, a 12 megapixel cameraphone, which will cost £30 per month on an 18-month contract with the Mix’n'Match 300 tariff, or £399.99 on PAYG.  As well as the impressive camera, the phone features touch focus, face detection, and a Xenon flash.  As a 3UK phone, it features Skype on 3 and Windows Live Messenger as well.  The phone features a 16:9 640×360 3.5″ widescreen display for playback of those pictures and videos, but there are other, sometimes overlooked features on this phone, such as the 12x digital zoom, geotagging of photos, image stabilizer, as well as all the other features and applications one would expect of a Symbian 5th Edition touchscreen device, including an accelerometer, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

In fact generally there aren’t many downsides to this device; the 1000mAh battery worries us slightly, as this sounds a little low for a good day’s usage (why oh why do smartphones force a daily charge), and our only other concern area is how much effort Sony Ericsson put into firmware updates for the device, as often seems needed on Symbian (or other smartphone OS) devices.  Oh, and the final issue with the device (which isn’t really an issue, but something to be aware of); most Nokia specific Symbian applications may not work on the device, so don’t expect the full Nokia suite of apps on this device.  Of course, it ships with Google Maps, which often negates the need for Nokia / Ovi Maps (don’t forget to take out the £5 per month Internet Add-On with this phone, as it will be well worth it), and other apps such as Nokia Sportstracker won’t work either (although a quick look through other Symbian applications should soon find a worthy free alternative).

3UK are continuing to innovate both at the lower end of the price market, and still signing up powerful high spec devices like this too, and this bodes well for next year…

Rumours are starting to gather pace on the Internet that the Amazon Kindle 3 will soon be launched in the US.  Whether this is in a direct response to the Barnes & Noble Nook, or whether it’s just time for an upgrade we’re not sure, however, we understand that the device will only be available for the domestic US market for time to come, so there’s no reason to not order the International Kindle now.

With sales of over 2 million Kindle devices in the US to date, yet only a rumoured 80,000 eBook readers bought so far in the UK (mainly Sony eReaders), it’s understandable that Amazon want to concentrate on the US market for a new device, where there are many more potential buyers than in the International markets.

Some information on the Kindle 3 courtesy of Kindle Review.

Available for many generic product codes (with other operator specific codes apparently to follow in the next few weeks), Nokia have this week released the v20 firmware for the Nokia N97, which is heading towards providing the software the phone should have shipped with when first launched.  There are a couple of rumours that Nokia has pulled this update, but either way, the firmware update should be available to all over the next few weeks.

The new features include:

Usability Improvement

• Kinetic Scrolling: Allowing kinetic scrolling in the menu, contacts, and other applications with long lists
• More Space: The new memory allocation brings around 20-30MB more space for applications and themes
• Visually enhanced Music Player and Photo Menu
• Improved accessibility to Symbols and Numbers: Holding a key for 1 seconds will activate the alternative character, no need to press the blue key first
• Improved memory and battery performance
• Improved image and video stability

New Experiences

• New Homescreen Widgets: CNN, MySpace, ESPN, Elle and more have now been added
• Newer Version of Ovi Maps: More features and a new service menu
• Voice UI Improvements: Support for Voice over IP

Now, despite the Nokia N97 having User Data Preservation (UDP), it appears a number of early adopters have found a range of problems with the new firmware, and the only solution was a hard reset (and then only restoring data, not a full restore of all data and applications); this doesn’t bode well for Nokia; neither Apple nor Android devices seem to suffer from these types of problems after upgrade problems, and Nokia really need to resolve them on their flagship devices.

Changelog details courtesy of Symbian World.

This morning we wrote an article about the Revo HERITAGE (here), mentioning that we felt that a single Last.fm account could be used across multiple devices.  This part of the article is correct, in that if you were to purchase multiple Revo devices, you could, after the first month (of free Last.fm access), configure all the devices to share a single Last.fm subscription to save a little money.  However, we should point out that having researched this a little further, we have discovered that although Last.fm will let you do this, and you would benefit from a single user account, which would learn all your “loved” and “banned” songs to improve the listening experience, Last.fm does have one limitation…

Last.fm will only provide one streaming radio per user account at any one time; so although you could happily have 2 (or more) devices sharing the same user account, only one could be playing Last.fm streamed music at a time.  Now, for many people, that may well be acceptable, but we thought we should bring it to people’s attention.

We did find information on one (quite old) proxy tool for Last.fm, that might allow you to rebroadcast a single Last.fm stream to multiple streaming devices on your local network (which would use the audio streaming option, and not the direct Last.fm support), but without support for the other functions, such as loving or banning tracks, we wonder whether this is a good solution; also we’re not sure if this tool would still work with the latest Last.fm servers and protocols in use.

If you really need a whole house audio solution that can take a single Last.fm feed and stream it throughout your whole house, then it appears the Sonos system may offer just that.

For a company that went quiet for a few months earlier this year, Revo seem to have bounced back and have added another new unit to their range of DAB radios.  The Revo HERITAGE is styled a little like units from the 50s and 60s, yet packs all their high spec features that they seem to be concentrating on right now.  This units joins the lineup of the Revo IKON (featured here), Revo DOMINO (featured here), and elder units such as the Revo iBlik RadioStation range, and the Pico range of portable devices.

The Revo HERITAGE features DAB, DAB+, FM radio stations, as well as Wi-Fi Internet Radio, as well as offering network streaming and support for all current iPod models.  In keeping with the price tag, this device is made from aluminium and real walnut veneer, and the screen is an OLED “secret-until-lit” display and like the Revo DOMINO, features a joystick based menu system.  The radio also features a digital alarm clock with sleep and snooze functions, and also features optical out and iPod video out connectors (amongst others).  Also provided is a full feature remote control.

As with the Revo IKON and the Revo DOMINO D3 (and D2) models, this radio also features support for Last.fm, allowing you to select an artist or genre and get streamed music.  Also like those other units, the device comes with a free 30 day Last.fm trial subscription, and would need access to a £3 per month subscription after that (which we still believe can be shared across multiple devices).  You can also improve the track selection by providing feedback to Last.fm in terms of “loving” or “banning” tracks that are played.

Finally, if you are still after other music support, the device has a 3.5mm input jack for other mp3 players, and can also play a wide range of music formats from USB devices via a USB port too.

The only limitation on this device seems to be iPhone support, where Revo state “While Heritage doesn’t offer full iPhone compatibility, by placing the iPhone in ‘In-Flight Mode’, Heritage will provide playback and charging.” (We should add this limitation does not apply to either the Revo DOMINO or Revo IKON, which have full iPhone compatibility).

If you are looking to buy one of these devices, you’ll need to head to John Lewis who have retail exclusivity on these devices when it goes on sale in November for £230 (alternatively you can buy direct from Revo Technologies themselves).

Although more expensive than the Revo DOMINO range, some have questioned the styling of that range, and this unit may well be more suited to people’s taste.

Although we don’t have much detail, Amazon have announced that following on from their announcement of Kindle for PC last week, that they will also be releasing a Kindle for Mac software application which will provide similar functionality for Mac OS X users.

The LG Chocolate BL40 picked up Mobile Phone of the Year at the What Mobile? awards on Friday.  In terms of being quite an iconic phone, we can understand why, as the phone packs a lot of features into a novel new form factor, which makes watching movies on the device even more entertaining.

We’re planning to release our full review of the phone very shortly, so keep an eye out for it.

Some pieces of additional Kindle news for today…

Firstly, Amazon have dropped the price by $20 (to $259), and should be providing a $20 refund to all early purchasers.  This makes the Kindle a little better value, although it’s believed the real reason behind the price drop is the announcement by US Bookstore Barnes & Noble who launched their Nook eBook reader (below) this week.  Now, this device looks interesting, partly because it has a colour touchscreen at the bottom for controlling the device, and partly because it uses the Android OS, which may mean future support for additional applications.

Also, B&N seem to be a little more open about their device; they confirm it can read ePUB and PDF files directly, implying (to some degree) that they do not want to limit their purchasers to only buy books from their eStore (of course, with applications like Calibre, Kindle users can equally get this type of content onto their device).  However, there are no plans for making this available in the UK (yet).

Secondly, Amazon have announced their Kindle for PC application, which along with their iPhone / iPod Touch application, expands where and how you can read your Amazon Kindle eBooks, and now allows you to read your Amazon Books on the PC.  It will also synchronize your last page read and annotations that you add to the eBooks (and this sync is bi-directional).  It’s not available yet, but should be shortly, and even offers a couple of extra facilities for Windows 7 users (XP, Vista and Windows 7 are the only OSes supported).

Finally, if you have an Amazon Kindle but feel some of the prices for accessories in the Amazon marketplace are a little high, you might want to head over to Mobile Fun, who now have a Kindle Accessories section covering most of the things you could ever need for your new device, including UK charges, cases, screen protectors and more.

The Amazon Kindle International Version is now shipping, and the first devices are arriving in the UK.  What’s interesting is not just the early user reviews of the device, but also some of the little things that aren’t quite as expected…

Firstly, Darren Griffin (better known from his work at Pocket GPS World) has written his review of his Kindle which arrived yesterday here, but what’s more interesting is that last night he sent a message via twitter confirming that although the web browser doesn’t allow general web access (we already knew this, as we covered here), the ability to browse and read wikipedia is still available.  It’s also nice to see Darren’s discovered the additional utilities, such as Calibre, which we also covered last week, for providing additional content to the Kindle.

Now, last week, we thought the idea behind the WikiReader was very cool; a portable device with access to the wikipedia articles, but now we’re thinking that maybe the Kindle with it’s online access to the live wikipedia may prove a more compelling way of accessing the same information…

Whilst I am testing the INQ Mini, one thing that has proved useful is INQ’s belief in being open about their products.  Firstly, they are happy to provide feedback via their twitter account (@inqmobile).  More importantly, though, is their decision to offer direct technical support via Get Satisfaction.  Not just does this help the end user in getting answers to their questions, it can also offer useful information over and above what the mobile network operator may tell you.

For example, when INQ developed the device, they included a link on the Switcher App to the INQ Hub, which acts, in essence, as an App Store for the device.  However, INQ have confirmed that 3UK have not selected this option, and it is not available on the device here in the UK.  However, INQ have confirmed that the App Store is still available to 3UK customers by simply pointing their browser to m.inq.getjar.com, which provides the content behind the INQ Hub, so the same information and applications are available.

Many applications available from GetJar are free, so it offers easy access to Java / Brew specific applications which are pretty much guaranteed to run fine on the phone.

So, there’s the tip; if you are looking for additional applications for your INQ Mini, head to m.inq.getjar.com and see what’s available (and when we checked, there’s a lot available…)

I was invited to an event organised by Zoombits last Friday, covering many of their plans and new gadgets they have added in time for Christmas.  Zoombits was originally Memorybits when it first launched a few years back, and Jonathan, the MD, was very enthusiatic about both the company and the new gadgets.

Zoombits have a good range of items, covering a whole range of items, and offer value in their pricing too.  According to Jonathan, if you have any questions, just ask their online live help advisors, who should be able to answer any questions, even about products they may not even sell!

Some nice features of the site include the ability to provide details of your primary devices, and the site will then offer accessories specific to your needs.  Also, once you have registered, there are even a few old style arcade games for you to play; Jonathan said he believed that the user account section should be a fun place to revisit, and it seems that way to us.

If you are in the market for a few gadget stocking fillers, then head off to Zoombits for a look around, especially as every item comes with free delivery…

Thanks to 1000Heads, the PR company who let us tag along to this event normally reserved for the traditional media.

I know INQ will be moving to Android next year, but the INQ Mini and INQ Chat are two key devices for early 2010 for INQ, and from the first looks, this phone may well achieve great things for INQ…

When you turn it on, the homescreen includes access to the Switcher app, which allows you to scroll through the key applications on the phone.  Included on that list, right next to Contacts, are Facebook and Twitter icons, showing the Social Networking aspects of this phone are key to INQ. Not just that, but having inserted a SIM into the phone, there were no lists of access points to choose from (as you would with Nokia’s Symbian) and in fact, the phone seemed to benefit from easy internet access, offering and performing updates in the background.  The level of integration is impressive; the Facebook app will not just download your Contacts from Facebook, but will include their photo and their latest status update direct from within the Contacts app; it can’t bring phone numbers down to the phone, but that’s a licensing limitation by Facebook, not a technical limitation in the phone.

The phone supports 3 widgets on the homescreen, the first two are weather (which needs configuring with a city) and world clock.  Obviously the phone has the normal range of additional 3UK specific applications, which we’ll look at as part of our main review of the phone.

There are many more features of this phone to study before we publish a more detailed review, but on first looks, this phone shows some very impressive features.  At only £60, it’s a bit of a bargain too, with little touches like SyncML support (so sites such as GooSync can be used to sync your Google information to the phone), and with the QWERTY keyboard and GPS support, the INQ Chat should be even better, even with it’s higher price…

This is an interesting phone, and shows that both the main mobile phone companies and the mobile networks can work together to produce a phone capable of more than just calls!  The phone (as we mentioned before) has Twitter and Facebook support, as well as the usual 3UK features (Skype on 3, Email on 3, Windows Live Messenger etc) and the phone also has some RSS support too.

Some features were well integrated, eg if you take a picture, the menu then offers to Send the photo to Twitter or Facebook as well as the more usual options.  However, others, such as the Social Networking apps themselves, weren’t so easy to find; Facebook wasn’t too bad, as it’s available from Menu / Messaging, but Twitter was only found in Menu / Entertainment / Applications, whereas, it would have made more sense in the Messaging area alongside Facebook.

However, in that app list, there were a number of other useful applications, including AccuWeather, YouTube, Yell, as well as the 3UK specific apps.  Also, was a Permier Football Scores app (although this requires you to pay a subscription to use it at all).

In other terms, the phone, and 3UK’s integration was good (personally I don’t like 3UK taking over both softkeys on the homescreen, but this is a minor point).  I did like the way that 3UK recognised I had moved my 3 SIM into a different phone, and automatically sent the latest 3UK settings to the phone (including sending an SMS in advance telling me what was happening, and how to accept the settings).

However, all was not perfect; I didn’t like the back cover, which is held on with 2 clips at the top and 2 more at the bottom, therefore needing some force to remove it; no nice buttons / slide to remove here.  Okay, the rear cover only gives access to the battery, SIM and microSD card slot, so probably does not need to come off often, but it still detracted from the phone.  Also, the phone uses a proprietary connection for both the handset and charging; given the general move by the other manufacturers towards microUSB, this was a shame (some, like LG, are already shipping phones with microUSB).

In a normal week, I would be saying that this is a really good, all round phone, but I’ve just had the new INQ Mini delivered, and that seems to offer a similar package that’s easier to use, and has less negatives, but that’s for another article…

The Sony Ericsson T715 is available from 3UK in Pink and Silver, and thanks to 3mobilebuzz for the loan of the phone.

Although we announced it last week, 3UK have this morning confirmed that the HTC Hero is their Android device that is coming to 3UK next month in time for Christmas, and the deal 3UK have put together for this phone is even better than we first thought…

Firstly, price: £99 upfront, and then an 24-month contract of £35 per month gives you the following:

• “Unlimited” web browsing (as we mentioned a few weeks back)
• “Unlimited” 3UK-3UK calls
• “Unlimited” texts
• 750 cross-network minutes to other mobile networks
• Free Skype-Skype calls

and this is the most interesting…

• “Unlimited” Spotify Premium for mobile AND PC for those 24 months (worth £240)

Now, that last one was a big surprise, and frankly, we are impressed.  According to the press release, you could spend all day and night with the hone connected to 3UK for web browsing and streaming music, and it would be allowed.  However, I feel that those “pesky” T&Cs will limit the actual amount you can use, and we’ll be looking to provide the exact limits when they are confirmed.

By providing Spotify Premium, that means no adverts between music tracks, and also support for offline playlists, allowing you to still listen to music when outside of 3UK’s coverage (or when on underground trains); Spotify Premium also gives you exclusive access to pre-release music and concert ticket lotteries.

For those not willing to sign up to a 24 month contract, we’ll bring you the other tariffs it is available on as and when 3UK provide that information, but with that Spotify Premium subscription built in, this actually looks an interesting offer.

We believe the limits are 2GB of Internet browsing, 3000 minutes of 3UK-3UK calls, and 3000 texts, although we don’t know what limits will be applied to Spotify.

This is the new WikiReader, a device from OpenMoko.  This device costs $99, and although you have to buy in US Dollars (via Amazon) they will happily ship worldwide (for an additional $19.20).  This device gives you access to 4Gb worth of Wikipedia articles in a small handheld device you can carry around with you.  It stores all the information on a 8GB microSD card (access from underneath the batteries) so needs no internet connection to provide information (which is good, as it doesn’t support any form of connectivity).  Whilst we are talking about the battery compartment, it takes 2 standard AAA batteries (easily obtained the world over, and helps keep the cost down compared to having a built in rechargeable battery); the manufacturers claim those batteries should last 12 months of normal usage, and it will take rechargeable AAA batteries if you prefer.

It has 3 simple buttons on it, ships with 3 million wikipedia articles, and uses a capacitive touchscreen, which has a scratch resistant tempered glass screen.  Wikipedia states today they have 3,056,000+ articles, so if this device is providing “3 million”, it looks like it has the full contents!  It’s only got a Black & White screen, and it doesn’t appear to support pictures (also, it’s not clear whether it supports hyperlinks from one article to another), and we’re not sure how software updates will be delivered (if at all).

Update: The device does support hyperlinks from one article to another, so that’s resolved that small concern from our point of view.

For those happy to download a new 4GB file (which shows that they have some headroom on the 8GB memory card) then updates will be available quarterly for free.  For those who would prefer to receive a physical card, OpenMoko are planning to offer a twice a year update service costing $29 for two years, although there is no mention of whether this will be available internationally, or what the cost for shipping the updates to the UK will be.

There are even some limited parental controls to prevent children from getting to any adult-orientated content.

I remember many years back looking at ways of getting offline copies of wikipedia onto Psions, then Zaurus devices, and then just accepting that online access was best; and you know what, I think this device could sell very well.  Even with the large download for the updates (and you wouldn’t need to apply every one I guess), this device could prove very useful, and is something that has caught my interest; personally, I’d prefer to see a device more akin to an Amazon Kindle, with 3G connectivity, eBook reader support *and* Wikipedia offline access, but this may just suffice for a while.

Finally, I note that the WikiReader website mentions it comes in white, which might imply more colours in the future…

Spotify have supported music purchase for a little while now, but they have just made the whole experience a lot easier.  Now it only takes a few clicks to purchase music, and that will be downloaded in what appears to be DRM-free mp3 format (you can keep them forever, transfer them to other devices, and even burn them to CDs).  We wonder whether this feature will be available on the iPhone client or the Android Spotify client on the 3UK HTC Hero due for launch any day soon…

One additional thing to consider when deciding on your Kindle purchase is that the device will ship with a US power cable, so you’ll need a power adaptor to charge the device in the UK too…

Apologies for missing this point when we covered the pros and cons last week.

Although we’re still awaiting formal confirmation from 3UK, we believe the HTC Android device they are about to launch is the HTC Hero, and it will ship with, along with a range of 3UK specific apps, the Spotify Android music client pre-installed too.  As best as we can tell, 3UK have not yet made anything public, but the information has come from a press statement by Spotify, who have said that 3UK are their first mobile operator partner, and that Spotify will be pre-installing their client on the HTC Hero that 3UK will release for Christmas.

Thanks to Ant at Freshplastic for breaking the news to us first.