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New Nokia N80

After only a solid week of calling Orange twice a day, on Friday morning I was able to find an Orange retail shop, which had the new Nokia N80 in stock. My local shop ironically, since I was willing to travel to Glasgow or Aberdeen if necessary.

No, I am not a fanatic...

So, I've now been using it for three days.  A full report and review will follow fairly shortly.

My first impressions are fairly good.  I love the screen, the new version of the S60 o/s looks great and the camera is gorgeous.

However, I'm less thrilled with the build quality - the slide action is a little loose, the phone will start to open if slipped into a jacket pocket and when texting, the body 'gives' slightly.

On the software side, the phone's had two shut downs and I'm really not convinced by Nokia's new web browser yet.

But these are little problems.  on the whole it's doing well so far.  Looking forward to getting Opera on there and living with it for a few weeks.

Updates as warranted.

Eurogamer Offers Mobile Games Coverage

Eurogamer has struck a deal with PocketGamer to add mobile games to it's line up of games news, previews and reviews.

From today's press release:

Eurogamer.net, the UK’s most popular videogames website, today announces the launch of a full channel dedicated to the fast-growing and exciting world of mobile gaming.

Featuring news, reviews, previews and features on mobile games, Eurogamer.net’s mobile proposition will provide readers with all the information they need to enjoy games on their mobiles. The mobile channel is also a perfect solution for companies in the sector looking to directly target avid gamers with an interest in mobile games.

Mobile gaming specialists Pocket Gamer will be supplying additional content for the new channel following the completion of a syndication deal between the site and Eurogamer Network. The launch of Eurogamer.net's mobile channel is the second phase of Eurogamer Network's entry into the mobile games space following the launch of MobileIndustry.biz – a site fully dedicated the mobile games trade – in 2005.

“Mobile gaming is a huge growth market," said Patrick Garratt, Eurogamer Network’s Business Development Manager. "We are firmly committed to providing consumers with the information they need to make proper buying decisions with the new Eurogamer.net mobile channel. We're delighted to be entering into this content agreement with Pocket Gamer and look forward to fully supporting the mobile games market with both Eurogamer.net's mobile channel and the trade with MobileIndustry.biz.”

Charlie Stross Fiction?

Edinburgh-based SF author Charlie Stross is working on a new book set in the UK in 2016.  He's done some background on the National ID card system as it will exist at that point.

Like all good authors, Charlie's looked at previous large scale IT contracts overseen by the government as well as the surrounding social factors.

The result is scary and I suspect fairly close to the eventual reality.

Let's face it, it's not going to stop crime or terrorism and it will be a colossal white elephant and liability from the outset.

Here's a link to the No2ID group, which opposes the ID card scheme.  Read what Charlie has to say and then make up your own mind about following it.

Nokia N80 - Too Damn Popular

Orange have been totally out of stock of the Nokia N80 all week. 

As and when they get them in ("Sometime next week, sir"), they're only going to charge me £50 to upgrade.

That seems like a good deal to me...

Mobile Entertainment Market Moves To Monte Carlo

This week's MEM06 show will be the last in the Business Design Centre in Islington.  Next year's glamorous event will take place in the jet-setting, millionaire-studded Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo.

This year's show saw over 1,500 delegates from 46 different countries attending the two day conference and exhibition.

Patrick Parodi, chairman of the MEF, said "...This represents an exciting time in the evolution of this high profile, ever growing event and in the development of the MEF. MEM has become the annual industry meeting place and we are looking forward to a move to the superb Grimaldi Forum in June 07". 

Damn.  I always though the BDC a perfect location, right round the corner from an O'Neils and across the road from a Slug & Lettuce.

Former Gamespot Mobile Editor Reappears With New Company

Steve Palley, the former editor of Gamespot Mobile has reappeared, several months after leaving the company and -apparently - vanishing.

Steve's now running a new company called Focimobile, which offers game evaluations, design advice and competitive analysis.

The site features a regular blog looking at the mobile gaming industry, which has just made it into my 'check daily' list.

The most recent entry is featured on GamaSutra (which is where I found the link to Focimobile and hence Mr Palley).  Steve takes a look at the most recent market research looking at the mobile games sector and finds huge discrepencies between the results announced by M:Metrics and Telephia.

You can read the whole thing here or here.

The first paragraph alone sums things up...

If you’re one of the mobile games industry’s many curious onlookers, your head must be spinning these days. M:Metrics and Telephia, two respected mobile content analysis firms, recently issued high-profile reports on the overall health of the business, and the conclusions they draw from their respective sets of data are diametrically opposed. One set of number-crunchers seems to think that the proverbial glass has gone bone-dry, while the other guys make it sound like we’re looking at a vast underground aquifer that’s started to issue geysers of money (PDF link). 
 
Yes, these reports make use of different methodologies, but the fact remains that they examine at the same industry over the same three-month time period...and yet, the impressions these reports offer of the industry couldn’t be reconciled by anything less than a flaming vision in the sky.

Carmack Likes Mobile Games

Eurogamer TV has just posted an interview with John Carmack, focusing on his new mobile title 'Orcs & Elves'.

Mr Carmack had this to say about mobile gaming:

"When I first played the games on mobile I was appalled," he blasted. "[I thought,] this phone is more powerful than a Super Nintendo - why do these games suck so badly? There was an element of moral indignation there. This is a cool little platform and the games at least on the phone that I had were rotten."

Carmack was at E3 promoting his new mobile project with EA, Orcs & Elves, which he called "a game for everybody who loved Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter."

And following his success with first mobile title, DoomRPG, Carmack is confident the work of id and others in the space is finally set to establish the platform as a serious, credible option for developers.

Mobile phones have been a new, different and viable platform since the days of SMS and WAP gaming.  Maybe now that a recognised industry figure has said as much, people might start listening...

iRiver takes on Sony

It's fair to say that I am a bit of a fan of iRiver, the Korean manufacturer of MP3/PMP devices.

I own an iRiver H340, which, despite looking like a bit of a brick, is the finest media player I've ever come across.  Compact, pocket sized and above all capable.

Plugged into your PC via it's USB 2.0 port, it becomes 40GB of hard disk space, which you can fill up as you please.  It also has a colour screen, line in recording, a line out jack (which doubles as another headphone jack), picture display, a text viewer (for e-books) and a monster battery which gives around a full day of playback.

Possibly the most extraordinary thing is the firmware, which is upgraded regularly by the company and which actually ADDS capabilities.

The most recent update added playback for .AVI files and the iRiverter app allows you to convert most movie formats (and DVDs) into compatible files.

So, imagine my delight at finding news of the new G10 on Gizmodo.

Sadly it uses Windows, has a capacity of 4 or 8GB.  But isn't it pretty?

A possible PSP competitor?

US Belief In 'Evil' Breasts Continues...

The Social Software Weblog reports that Livejournal (previous home of Flackboy's adventures) has asked a user to remove an icon of a baby being breastfed.  Yes the one on the left.

Live Journal's reason is that a search result which displays the picture could be considered 'offensive'.

Apart from the fact that this seems a little unlikely, LiveJournal's response seems to be on a par with SmartFilter's random and arbitrary designations of inappropriate content.

This seems ludicrous considering LJ is one of the largest repositories in the world of Slash Fic - fan created stories featuring characters from other books, tv shows, movies, game or even bands, in which (graphic) homosexual sex is the key point.

However, despite the hot Snape/Harry, Harry/Draco, Buffy/Willow (yay) and even Aubrey/Maturin (hmm...) action, the female breast still seems to be one of those things which is basically evil/offensive/upsetting.

Roll on the 21st century...

Are people losing patience with the PSP?

Could it be that the handheld market is tougher than even Sony thought?  A couple of pieces surfaced today, one from Kotaku with the playful title 'PSP:Just Die Already', which outlines a lot of the frustrations which seem to be very common among PSP owners.

It seems like Sony's drop-dead-gorgeous little device is just a pain when it comes to doing anything outside playing authorised PSP games or watching movies on UMD (and only those from your own region - naughty...)

For a device with a screamingly lovely screen, tons of processing power and upgradeable memory, it should be *the* platform of choice for people who want games, movies and music on the go.

However, it seems like Sony's paranoia over 'unauthorised' use, combined with the poor selection of officially available movies and the hoops people have to jump through to get any sort of media onto the machine are turning people off.

Ewan Spence, the man behind the Podcast Network's PSP show ran into this specific problem when he travelled to the states.

While it's unlikely to spell the end of the world for the sleek, black brick, it does seem like a growing number of people are becoming fed up with the barriers and boundaries the PSP is imposing upon them.

While a great many people are looking at the DS Lite as the ideal replacement, I think the GP2X, Linux-based handheld, might be the surprise hit of the next twelve months.  It's open and anyone can develop for it.  The first machine sold well and it supports games, media playback, etc.

While it's not going to get any mainstream media coverage - YET - it does provide exactly what the PSP promised, a converaged media device that lets the user play games, music or video on the go.

Of course, now I've written about it, looked at the site, etc.  I find I want one very badly.

Damn.