berble.com have confirmed that there will be no laptop tethering for the iPhone, inline with our opinion last week. An O2 contact told them that connecting a laptop to the iPhone would be against the T&Cs for the unlimited data usage. They go on to mention that the contact also suggested the capability might not even be available within the iPhone to achieve this, even if it wasn’t against the T&Cs.
Read berble.com’s article here.
Here’s a roundup of a few additional points and information that have been released since the initial launch earlier this week.
Firstly, there are rumours that O2 are going to allow the iPhone 3G to be tethered to a laptop via Bluetooth, ie you can get access to the internet from the laptop via the iPhone. This is unconfirmed, and some people have indicated that the early iPhone 2.0 firmwares do not contain this functionality, so unless Apple pull something out of the hat at the last minute, this may not happen. Of course, many people argue that the iPhone has enough capability that you won’t want or need to use your laptop at all!
On the more positive, Unlimited WiFi will be available on the iPhone 3G at 9,500 hotspots covering both The Cloud and BT’s OpenZone network, which will be added in on 11th July, the iPhone launch date.
There’s no front facing camera, despite what a few people are claiming, so no 3G video calling. Whether this was something that was dropped from the development to meet the timescales, or whether it was a purposeful decision (after all, how many of us make regular video calls, compared to voice calls…?) we’ll never know, but for now, there’s no capability.
There’s some questions over navigation apps, with some people claiming that companies like TomTom will not be able to release SatNav software because of a clause which prevents real-time navigation apps. We believe that this clause relates to the use of the SDK to access the Google Maps data, which, of course, TomTom will not be using. As such, we doubt this clause will prevent a wide raft of SatNav applications becoming available.
All in all, we suspect there will be a lot more news about the iPhone between now and a month’s time.
It looks like we missed this one last week; whilst at Computex, Asus also launched a USB handwriting touchpad, which can recognise Chinese and English characters, numbers, and symbols. It connects via USB, and is designed for the Asus Eee PCs, matching the more common white colour scheme.
Story courtesy of AVING.net, picture courtesy of linitx.com.
According to this article on the BBC website, sales of smartphones will outstrip laptops in the next 12 to 18 months. With Symbian recently reporting that more than 200 million Symbian smartphones have been manufactured and shipped (the actual figure is at least 206 million), and Nokia predicting it will sell over 35 million GPS enabled handsets in the coming year, it’s all go for smartphones. It will also be interesting to see how the other manufacturers react; there’s already strong indications the new 3G iPhone will ship with a built in GPS, or at least GPS support.
BBC Link via SMS Text News.
Although nothing is firm, 3 mentioned today at a briefing, that they are looking at providing a home router with a 3G modem built in, to allow people to connect their whole network via 3G, instead of just a single laptop or desktop via a USB dongle. 3 also said they will expect sales of dongles to drop as more laptops come with HSDPA built in over the next few months. Of course, they’ll still make their money from the contract, and won’t need to provide hardware, so it will be interesting to see whether they offer a SIM-only data deal, and what pricing they offer.
Finally, they also talked about speed of 3G connections, and whether companies are over-selling their services. Mainly aimed at Vodafone, 3 are claiming customers should be more worried about signal strength and the impact of other traffic, and not just the headline connection rate. To help counter this, 3 are planning to increase the number of mast sites from 7,500 to 9,000 by 2009 as part of their mast sharing deal with T-Mobile. This will also help increase population coverage from 90% to 98%, which will also help.
Toshiba announced a number of new laptops in Paris today. Firstly, the 13.3″ Portégé M800 in white, with 2GHz Core 2 Duo T5750, 1GB RAM, a WXGA (1,280 x 800) screen, Intel’s GMA X3100 graphics set, DVD burner, three USB2 ports, FireWire / VGA / headphone sockets, 802.11a/g/n WiFi, modem, Ethernet, Bluetooth and Vista Home Premium. Toshiba also announced several limited edition Satellite P300 Toshibas, although right now these designer laptops are only available in France.
However, a number of website are already pointing out the lack of an Asus Eee-equivalent in their range, suggesting that although these lightweight smaller screen units are nice, they are still missing out on a new key consumer sector in laptops.
Thanks to talktoshiba.com for the heads up on this release.
According to an article by Fresh Plastic, the 3 SkypePhone is now available at both Woolworths and Sainsburys at just £39.99 on PAYG. Even better value, this includes a £10 TopUp credit, reducing the real cost. We’ve been a fan of the 3 SkypePhone since launch, and since then 3 have made a small, but significant change to Internet Access. For 50p a day, £2.50 a week, or £5 a month you have always been able to access the Internet direct from the phone, but for the last few months, 3 have opened up a new option for customers; Mobile Broadband.
Mobile Broadband costs £10 per month, but importantly allows you (under the T&Cs) to connect your PC through the 3 SkypePhone to access the internet. Technically, the cheaper Internet Access is limited to direct access from the mobile itself, and this limitation is removed for the Mobile Broadband option. Now, some people question whether this is worth the extra £5, given the fact that the same £10 also buys you 30 days credit for a PAYG USB Modem too. Well, remember that it also gives you free Skype access on the 3 SkypePhone, and with the ability to configure the phone to provide the PC access via Bluetooth, then you can have the same access without anything attached to a Bluetooth capable laptop. For many, this Skype access makes the 3 SkypePhone better value. Even if you only topup with £10 per month, and use this all for mobile data (ie you don’t use it for phone calls) the device will feel useful because of the Skype access. Of course, looking at the other point of view, the 3 USB Modem will get higher data speeds, so that may be a deciding factor for that option instead.
Price drop story courtesy Fresh Plastic [Via 3mobilebuzz]
An Asus spokesman has confirmed that we should see the new Intel Atom based Eee 900 in the UK in June (although like TechRadar who reported this, we think it’ll be a little later that stock is freely available). This will feature the 8.9″ screen and other specs we covered here.
More details of Asus’ statements here at TechRadar.
LG are planning to produce some new low cost 16:9 screens suitable for the new range of low cost laptops, such as the Asus Eee and the Everex Cloudbook. They are planning a standard 16:10 8.9″ 1024×600 screen in August, followed by a 16:9 10.1″ 1024×576 screen in October. These screens are (according to industry sources) likely to be picked up by Acer and HP for their laptops, with a possibility Asus will adopt them too. Either way, the market and range of low cost lightweight laptops is set to continue during 2008 and into 2009.
In other news, it’s looking definite that we will see the Intel Atom chips in the Asus Eee 900 from around June time, which will hopefully improve battery life.
Some content courtesy Engadget.
Here’s a picture of the new Asus Eee PC 900. This will have the 8.9″ screen (1024×600 resolution), more memory, more disk space (4Gb flash onboard, with either an additional 8Gb SSD for XP and 16Gb SSD for Linux), and a formal choice of OS. The price will be from £329 (for the Linux version). The weight remains below 1Kg. Best of all, these should be available now (although whether you can actually purchase one today seems up for debate).
Here’s an interesting link for the Everex Cloudbook (aka Packard Bell EasyNote XS) Laptops. In a similar vein to the Eee touchscreen mods, here’s an article on how one user of the Cloudbook forums has added a touchscreen, using the same sort of kit used for adding a touchscreen to the Eee.
Story courtesy of Cloudbooker.
Well, a week after we first mentioned it, we have one of the new 3 USB Stick Modems here. As with some other people, the first laptop we tried wouldn’t accept that the device was there, but on a second laptop it worked just fine (some software conflict that Huawei really need to find and resolve, or at least offer advice on).
In terms of speed, we’ve mainly seen connections at 3.6mbps, which is faster than our broadband. As well as offering a data connection, the software allows you to send and receive SMS text messages.
For those times when you are on the train, or have limited room for the stick modem to point straight out, it also comes with a short USB extension lead, but for most uses, it’s a straight plug in and work setup. The device also features built in storage where the software and drivers are stored, meaning you don’t even need to carry around an install CD.
As part of the launch of this new modem, 3 are offering some innovative pricing deals: for a start, if you are an existing customer, you can get the Mobile Broadband service for half price. Also, they have recently announced some very competitive tariffs, where you can get a free phone, pay a fairly reasonable monthly cost, and get a fair few minutes included as standard, yet also get unlimited texts.
Now, that means if you took the free phone, and then applied for mobile broadband, for a combined monthly cost of just £32.50 would get you a free phone, 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and mobile broadband with a 3Gb a month allowance. Note: the phone contract may be only 12 months (a bit of a rarity nowadays), but the mobile broadband contract has to be at least 18 months to benefit from the half price deal, although you still get the choice of all the USB modems (although the new USB Stick Modem will come with a one off charge to purchase unless you take a 24 month Broadband contract). This offer is only valid until the 31st May, so worth thinking through these options right now.
Although we’ve yet to try it, if you are roaming onto one of the 3 networks around the world, you still get the same deals and benefits - which means mobile broadband at no additional roaming costs.
Head over to the 3 Store now to look and order all these offers for unlimited texts and USB Modems.
As well as their competitors getting their devices out, Asus has now started shipping the Windows based Eee PC in the US, and it appears will be releasing the 8.9″ screen version earlier that first predicted to help ensure they maintain their market share. This will have to ship without the new Intel Atom chips, as these will not be ready in time, Engadget reports. We should be seeing both versions in the UK at some point this year.
Dopplr, the traveller’s social networking site, has reported that Heathrow has changed it’s baggage restrictions. They have lifted the one bag carry on restriction, which means you can now take a bag and a laptop bag onboard as hand luggage. Also, you no longer need to remove the computer from the bag as a matter of course, as they have rolled out improved scanners. Given all the bad press around the opening of Terminal 5, it’s nice to see some good news for Heathrow.
It appears the current Asus Eee Laptop PC should be available with Windows XP within the next two weeks in the US. No date on UK availability yet though, although we’ll keep you informed once we hear something. Those wanting XP may be better to wait for the larger 8.9″ version though.
It appears the new 8.9″ Asus Eee PC may also be coming with a couple of additional goodies. Rumours are that it will come with a touchscreen. We mentioned the touchscreen before, and equally have discussed Asus’ statement saying they weren’t planning it. However, fresh rumours are saying it is likely, and the inclusion of GPS too is interesting. Whether any GPS / mapping software will also ship with the laptop is unknown, nor is it known if this new unit will also have Bluetooth, probably one of the other major hardware omissions so far in the range.
More news as and when we have it confirmed.
Asus have stated that they believe the XP version of the Eee PC will outsell the current Linux version by 1.5 times, despite costing roughly twice as much. We’re not so sure, at that price (at least in the UK), they are competing against a whole range of conventional laptops which offer better screens (and higher screen resolution); it seems to us that one of the main driving factors of why they are selling is the price. No news on when the Windows XP version of the current device is due in the UK.
Story courtesy of Engadget.
At CeBIT this week, Asus have shown off the new Eee PC 900, which features the 1024 * 600 8.9″ screen we expected it to, features 1GB of RAM, up to 12GB of disk space, and should come in both Linux and Windows XP flavours. This will, of course, put the price up compared to the current model (which should continue in production), but may well suit some people’s requirements. It should be available in the “middle of 2008″.
If you are looking for another detailed review of the Everex Cloudbook (aka Packard Bell Easynote in the UK), then head over to Meredith Farkas’ website and read all about it.
The Times have covered the Elonex One, which is a £99 laptop due for formal announcement at The Education Show in Birmingham at the end of February. The One will have 1Gb of memory, WiFi, and run Linux (just like the twice as expensive Eee PC and the thrice as expensive Everex Cloudbook), a 7″ screen, although it has no CD drive. It should weigh aound a kilo (2.2 pounds). Pre-installed software will include web browser, email client, mp3 software, and it will feature access to ONEunion, which seems to be some form of content sharing system. Although being targetted at schools (hence the choice of launch venue), it should also be available for general sale.
Alternatively (and unlike the Eee PC), a second version for £120 will feature Bluetooth and 2Gb of memory instead.
Story from Times Online.