Gamers and phoners, take note!

Saturday, January 13th, 2007

This blog is 100 per cent compatible with being viewed on handheld gaming consoles Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and Nintendo DS-Lite. You can also access using a WAP or HTML browser on a mobile (cell) phone. The question is, of course, would you ever? Well, since getting my Motorola KRAZR phone just before Christmas I’ve been making great use of its mobile Internet capabilities.

My experience to date runs counter to the hype of Steve Jobs last week when announcing Apple’s latest offering, the iPhone, to the world. He spent much time dissing all other ways of accessing the Internet on the move with the exception of laptops – or notebooks as they’re now often called, especially by Apple because its latest MacBooks are prone to setting your pants on fire if you have them on your lap.

I don’t find it frustrating, or clumsy, or in any sense a tortuous process to access the Web on my shiny new flip-phone. I type in the URL of the website I want to visit, just as I would type a text message, and the site downloads quickly, formatted nine times out of ten sufficiently well for me to navigate and read easily. The phone can’t handle Flash animations and other plug-innery but that’s fine. They’re often security risks, especially on handsets that you can’t firewall or virus-check. Staying with security, I don’t access shopping or banking sites on the phone. Ever.

The only annoyance is I can’t seem to leave comments on blogs. I can type ‘em in but when I hit send, no go. I can fill in all manner of online forms, so I don’t know what’s going on there.

I don’t have to rely on being near a wireless network point because I’d be screwed if I did, living as I do in the countryside. It’s disappointing that the iPhone won’t be 3G from the word go. Sure, it will work fine in US mega-cities but in the UK you’ll likely find it has no Internet access whatsoever in most towns, villages and even some cities. I envisage early adopters of the iPhone in the UK will be found sticking like glue to the walls of city centre Starbucks, terrified of walking away for fear of losing over fifty per cent functionality on their new toys.

3G, while not universally available, certainly provides greater geographical accessibility for making use of those nifty Google Maps that Mr Jobs was so enamoured with during his keynote speech. I can access 3G content just five minutes’ walk away from the desolate wastes made world-famous by the fictional antics of Cathy and Heathcliff. Not that a map from Google would help me if I got lost on the Moors…

This is impressive as the only mobile phone service provider with a mast in my locality is T-Mobile. When I ordered the phone I was told 3G wasn’t yet available in these parts but the salesperson was, I’m pleased to say, wrong. Virgin Mobile customers can get a signal here as well but that’s because the carrier is T-Mobile. When friends on Vodafone, Orange and 3 come to visit, they find their phones don’t work once they get on the road to our house. Some of them panic when they discover they are no longer contactable and cannot dial out, not that they think we’re serial killers or anything. They need their phones. Apparently. It’s often a shock to those who do freak that they find themselves freaking. I guess realising an addiction is always going to be a seismic event, whatever you discover you’re addicted to.

To end this entry about all manner of things relating to mobile Internet access, I’d like to point out that viewing content on a mobile phone or game console can be the death of you if you don’t look up and pay attention when crossing a road. Believe me, it happens even with those quaint old voice calls made on the move. Some years ago now, an ex-boss of mine was walking down Oxford Street in London, saw a young woman chatting away on her mobile phone. She stepped out into the road without looking and BAM! She was squashed under a double-decker bus. Over and out. No reception whatsoever and her friend no doubt puzzled over why she was hung up on. So take care.

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categories: technology

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