SEVENCLICK
Mobile Technology Evangelists

Vodafone has just announced the official prices for the new HTC Magic, brought exclusively by them in most Europe. From 19 € to 339 €, with 12 € data + music 3G plan…

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There has been a lot of buzz around the new Skype iPhone app blocking calls over 3G networks because of mobile carrier´s pressure. The fact is that most 3G data plan contracts specifically block P2P and VoIP calls… So, given today market rules, it was just a matter of time for someone to break that apparently holy rule at a certain point, and stand out over its competitors.

MÁSmovil (an Spanish MVNO) not only allows VoIP calls, they are actively promoting the use of Skype and Fring over their networks (well, as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, they don´t have their own licensed frequency allocation, but they use another´s carrier network.. in this case, the service provider is Orange).

I wish this would be the first of a long list of carriers allowing VoIP… but this is simply not the correct time for this to happen. The true convergence of voice and data wireless networks will come with 4G, called LTE (Long Term Evolution) which is still far away from the current market horizon.

Even these are good news and provide an added value for this MVNO (for me a decisive one), I would have appreciated more transparency with their 3G prices comparisions, as they are a bit “tricky”.

For instance, when comparing with their stronger MVNO competitor, SIMYO, the charts show that 25 MB with MÁSmovil costs 0,75 €, which is better than the 0,99 of SIMYO. That´s completely correct, but they seemed to forget that with SIMYO you only pay 0,99 for the first 100 MB. Of course they don´t made a chart showing that you will pay the triple (3 €) for 100MB with them… on the other hand, MÁSmovil computes each single 3G connection as a minimum of 512 KB, in front of the 256KB gap of SIMYO, so forget configuring your mobile mail client for polling every 5 minutes (with both carriers).

Anyway, allowing VoIP over 3G networks is a big step forward for the final users.

Link MÁSmovil 3G prices [eng] | MÁSmovil 3G prices [esp]

Link MÁSmovil promotes VoIP calls [eng] | MÁSmovil promotes VoIP calls [esp]

Link SIMYO 3G prices

Link Skype & Fring reviewed

Android 1.5, based on the Cupcake branch from the Android Open Source project, has been released as an early look version. Although 1.5 is still not supported on Android devices, developers can download the 1.5 SDK and start testing the new features, as well as send feedback to Google in order to improve the 1.5 final version.

Cupcake is full of new features, and though there are no big surprises, the feeling is that most things have been improved. I´d stress the ability to install downloadable IMEs in order to get customized soft-keyboards (we already knew the importance of IMEs for Android roadmap). Here´s a summary of 1.5:

• User interface improvements (refinements of UI core elements, window animations…)
• Home screen Widgets
• Updated linux kernel and SD filesystem checks
• Google Apps integration (uploads to YouTube, Picassa)
• Faster GPS signal acquisition as well as faster camera start-up
• Speech recognition
• New APIs and developers tools (improved JUnit support, easier profiling…)

Via Android Developers Blog

A few days ago the Skype application for iPhone/iTouch was launched. You can download it from the App Store for free. This let us make calls to other Skype users for free and to mobile and landline phones using the known Skype credit.

We have tested it making some calls between an iPhone and a computer or a Windows Mobile device. These are the results and the devices we have used:

• Test iPhone – Computer (Windows XP sp2):

We have installed the desktop application on a PC running Windows XP sp2, and the voice has been transmitted really fast between the PC and iPhone, just like in a standard call, what has really surprised us.

• Test iPhone – HTC Touch Cruise 2 (Windows Mobile):

This time we have installed the application Fring on a HTC Touch Cruise 2. This app, as we already posted, allows us to use different accounts (MSN, Google Talk, AIM, SIP, Facebook, Twitter, Skype) from our mobile device. But the voice sound did not run fast, it had a lag between one and two seconds. The sound quality decreased but just in Fring, not on Skype iPhone.

About Skype UI on iPhone:

It is simple but clear, just what we need and how we need it, so it is easy-to-use. It takes our contacts from iPhone contacts in case you want to call them using your Skype credit. And it also allows to use the camera to change your user picture. The BIG drawback is that it only runs when using Wi-fi connection, not 3G. We hope this changes…

About Fring UI on Windows Mobile:

The user interface is too simple, some features are not easy to find. And it has an old-fashion look, so that it uses WM square buttons and other resources.

It is great to see these kind of applications come to our mobile devices, so we just don’t need our computer to call for free! =)

HTC has introduced a new terminal this week, the HCT Snap. A mobile phone which, as they say, shows you “Your life in a Snap“. It is a slim and stylish device with an exposed QWERTY keyboard, out of useless features and perfectly suitable for people who want to simplify their life. This can be good for smartphone newcomers or users focus on e-mails, sms and web browsing.

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Last week  HTC Spain prepared a meeting to present its new devices for the upcoming months. SevenClick was part of the audience, composed by some of the most important people in Spanish blogosphere, with people from Xataka, PixelyDixel, etc…

Let’s take a look at the novelties.

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Can´t recall her name?… Google can help you, just use Google´s CADIE technology to search into your memories with your phone !

Nice April Fool’s joke, guys.

Link Google Mobile Blog |  Google Brain Search | CADIE | Google´s hoaxes