Mobile Phones

LG Phone Recalled Due to Poor 911 Connection

This seems to be a first. On Friday, the LG Spyder 830 cell phone was recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission because it “presented a hazard to the public by not holding a connection and had poor voice quality during 911 emergency calls”.

What surprises me is the fault has been penned on the phone maker and not the mobile operator.

[via GigaOM

A game grip for iPhone

Spotted on Tokyo Mango, a cool-looking GameGrip for iPhone from Trinity, in Japan.

Cortado Unveils iPhone Business Apps

Mobile applications company Cortado has announced the development of a range of practical business applications for the iPhone. The solutions will be rolled out over the next six months and will enable iPhone users to print, fax, scan, copy and access corporate networks and databases via their iPhone.

[via Mobile Marketing Magazine

Mobile phones more visible in North Korean capital

Mobile phones are becoming more visible in reclusive North Korea following the launch of a new network by telecom company Koryolink, reports the IHT

The Koryolink system, named for an ancient Korean dynasty, started operating in December. It had more than 6,500 North Korean users as of mid-February, according to Koryolink officials.

The 3G network was initially deployed to cover Pyongyang, which has a population of more than 2 million. Plans are to expand coverage to the entire country in the next few years.

Mobile phone use in North Korea — probably the world’s most tightly controlled country — comes with restrictions. Phones do not allow contact with the outside world, or with the special telephone networks that foreigners are normally permitted to use inside North Korea.

Related:

– When using a mobile can cost your life

– North Korean police patrol Chinese Border with cell phone detectors

– A little light shines through North Korea’s blackout

Shoe phone talks the talk, walks the walk

This is not Maxwell Smart, but Paul Gardner-Stephen, a post-doctoral fellow in bioinformatics at Flinders University in Adelaide who has put together a wearable shoe phone that can place and receive calls wirelessly. Spotted on Crave

Other than demonstrating the potential for the integration of wireless technologies into items of everyday use, the concepts behind the shoe phone have potential for the development of biomedical devices, such as use in home nursing and aged care facilities.

The shoe based platform makes it possible to detect shocks and orientation changes resulting from, for example, a fall. On detecting this, the device could telephone a medical carer and initiate a speaker phone conversation and call for any assistance required.

Watch the video on YouTube to see Gardner-Stephen’s shoe ringing. He has also posted detailed instructions so you can make your very own.

[via Crave

Visa in Hot Water Over SMS Alert Service

According to IntoMobile, Visa is being sued by a small US business for infringing a patent which covers the use of SMS messages used to alert spenders of transactions.

Charge Notification Services Corporation (CNSC) out of Miami, Florida has taken exception to the service that Visa and some of their partners have recently been offering.

Their patent covers charge card transaction authorization and/or notification in real-time via SMS to a mobile device.

UK cell providers ask Nokia to pull Skype from phones

TechSpot reports that UK operators Orange and O2 are reportedly threatening Nokia over the decision to include a Skype client on their N97 handset.

Essentially, Orange and O2 are convinced that offering a Skype client on a phone leaves an avenue for customers to pay less to their cell providers, which they see as hitting their bottom line. As a result, it seems they are threatening to refuse to carry the N97 on their networks unless Nokia agrees to pull the application.