The new Wireless Technology

Have you ever left home in a rush, arrived at office, sat down and pulled out your mobile phone only to find out it’s almost out of power? Well that’s a situation most of us have experienced in one way or another. The most annoying thing is that probably nobody in the office brought a phone charger with them to work; or even if they did, it probably does not work with your phone model.

This type of situation could be a thing of the past if Qi really takes off. Qi is a wireless power standard brought about by the Wireless Power Consortium. This week, the consortium finally lay down their definition for the interface of the low power specification. Currently though, the details of the specifications are only available internally. However, come August 30^th the entire world will be able to find out as the specs are made public.

The spec can hit a maximum of 5 Watts and if that seems like peanuts, consider this – most mobile devices need only 2.5 watts to recharge their batteries. Therefore, power-wise this standard is more than enough to keep consumers happy. Devices that want to make use of this technology will have to pass a few spec tests prescribed by the WPC. The final test will be done by third parties and thereafter, they will be allowed to display the Qi logo on the product.

The WPC is very insistent that this testing process is adhered to strictly, as it would enable consumers to build up trust on the name. To draw a parallel, having a Qi logo would be the same as saying “Has a USB port”. Consumers would know that any number of Qi branded devices they have will work with any other Qi branded wireless charger.

No More Google Nexus One Android Phone

When Google unveiled its Nexus One early this year (January 2010, to be exact), people turned to the smartphone (or superphone as they called it) with a lot of anticipation, with only one question in their minds – will it perform like the highly-acclaimed iPhone from Apple? After six months in the market, the answer is crystal-clear no. Google has now decided to discontinue the Nexus One smartphone completely. The very last of the smartphones have arrived at Google’s headquarters, and there will be no more for consumers in the US after the shipment is completed. It won’t be entirely dead and gone, since it is still making great rounds in Europe where it is sold via Vodafone and in Asia through HTC.

What led to this decision? Google is saying good-bye to its venture with unlocked handsets because of bad sales. In fact, because of the disappointing numbers, they shutdown the entire store, ending an experiment with selling unlocked phones direct to consumers online. Google’s blog contained the information about its Nexus One discontinuation, but since the products were not getting much attention, neither did this ground-breaking news. For many, the real culprit was Google’s weak marketing strategies. For others, and many Americans, unlocked handsets were too much, even though this device roused interest among technology geeks. This is a rather quick but overdue decision from Google’s end. The product itself had great features, and was made even better two weeks ago, when the Android 2.2 was released in the market. But no one really noticed.

A New iPod Release?

The iPhone just got here and people are either still gaga over it or have started their irritated ranting’s. Now Apple is getting ready to release an updated iPod in the near future. As near as fall that is.

Rob Henessey set the forums on fire with his musings on the next iPod. He said that the upcoming iPod Touch will feature a five megapixel camera with flash, HD video recording capabilities and a gyroscope. He also said that FaceTime would also be included. FaceTime is Apple’s own video call making app.

Sounds fantastical? Well nothing is improbable. U.K. retail giant John Lewis, the company for which Henessey works for as a buyer, attributed the comments to speculation. They also said that Henessey and Apple had had no direct contact or discussion about the device in question.

Although Apple has not responded to these claims, it could be the best thing the company can do to divert attention from the flawed iPhone 4G. The much hyped and much awaited product hit the shelves only to run into a host of bugs. The most notable of which is the poor call quality which basically renders the iPhone 4G into a very expensive iPod (much like the one described by Henessey). Apple has been trying to find a fix for this issue, but short of recalling and replacing all their products there doesn’t seem to be a proper solution.
Currently the only solution they have for users is, “Hold the phone the way we want you to”.