Apps, Handsets and Os's

It's been an interesting week for mobile announcements.

First off, Sun announced their open source RIA Java FX platform for mobile. Is it too little too late and will it make a real difference (reference Savaje)? I tend to agree with David Beers that Motorola have a better chance of distributing Linux and Java than Sun.

Ubuntu mobile was released, targetting small internet devices (eg. Nokias N800) and not mobile phones directly (like Trolltech's Greenphone Linux platform).

On the device front, Motorola are getting back into the high-end game to help try and regain some of their lost market share in this segment. Sneak previews of the N81 and N82 also appeared on the web (and then taken down) and Sony Ericsson announced the P1i (successor to the P990i).



Google also announced an update to Google Maps for Mobile for UK residents to include Google Local search results and route directions.

For those on S60 platform(2nd and 3rd edition) check out S60 application blog for Best Profiles for a comprehensive review. It's a nice little app that has got both basic and advanced functions for very specific profiles setting. Now, all we need is a sensor in the phone so that when I turn it over onto it's face in meetings it goes to silent profile automatically... :)

Speaking of sensors, I'm sure we'll see more sensors in phones and the API's to create interesting 3rd party apps - the Nokia 5500 has already got a 3D motion sensor but mobiface reports on Sandisks new mp3 player that skips tracks when you shake it... how long before we see this type of feature in mobile's ?