fringing freedom in Barcelona!

Avi Shechter, the CEO of fring has been invited to speak at the Mobile World Congress on the morning of Wednesday 13th February 2008, in Barcelona. The topic of his talk: “Mobile VoIP - friend not foe of the network operator.”

Given the subject matter this promises to be a lively and thought provoking section of the show, and is sure to lend new perspectives and spark discussion, that will help drive the future of the mobile space.

Avi will also be sharing his vision for the next 12 months and beyond, with particular focus on how fring believes consumers will start to re-think the way they use their mobile devices.

As reported earlier, fring has also been invited by Nokia to join its forum Nokia stand, on the second level of the main Nokia stand in Hall 8 of the Mobile World Congress 2008. fring will be doing demonstrations from the stand for the duration of the show, including the unveiling of some new and very exciting features, some of which are genuine firsts for Mobile VoIP. We’ll also be explaining what fringing freedom really means to both consumers and potential partners.

The great thing is that anyone who wants to meet or interview Avi can do so at the show.

1.1 billion handsets sold in 2007

2007 was a great year for the giants in the mobile industry. It was also a great year for private individuals like you and me with the introduction of Mobile VoIP.According to news agencies more than 1.1 billion handsets were sold during the financial year. The three leading companies are Nokia with sales in excess of 437 Million handsets, Samsung with just over 161 million and Motorola with a mere 159 million.

After all the hype I personally thought the new iPhone from Apple would come out on tops this year, but funny enough even with all the great free publicity they only got 0.6% market share, selling a whopping 2.3 million handsets.

Google Cheif Executive Eric Schmidt thinks 2008 will be even better with the arrival of what he calls “a truly mobile web”.

‘The arrival of a truly mobile web, offering a new generation of location-based advertising, is set to unleash a “huge revolution”, Schmidt said on Friday.’

“It’s the recreation of the internet, it’s the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us - and it is very likely it will happen in the next year,” he told a panel at the World Economic Forum.” News24

fringsters 2008 is definitely going to be a great year in the mobile arena.
Don’t be left behind, make sure to keep up with the latest developments.

HTC launches “Touch Dual” in South Africa

For those of you looking to upgrade your handsets in the next few days, look no further!
HTC has just launched the all new HTC Touch Dual.

Apart from all the fancy things like the slide out QWERTY keyboard, The phone comes standard with 3G and HSDPA and thanks to Vodacom’s new 3.6 Mbps connection you can really fring in style.

Starting in February the HTC Touch Dual will be available at retailers nationwide at a price of about R5800.00

What are you waiting for? Go get it!

Vodacom launches 3.6Mbps HSDPA Nationwide

2008 started on a high note when fring introduced local servers in South Africa to help improve voice quality, but things just keep getting better and better, According to MyBroadband Vodacom has just released their 3.6Mbps HSDPA network Nationwide. The launch of the new service includes free activation for the next three months. This basically means that Vodacom now offers users the fastest nation wide mobile broadband in South Africa and this can only be good news for fringsters.

“From 1 May 2008, Vodacom’s HSDPA 3.6 service will be offered to Contract, Top Up and Prepaid customers as a Value Added Service (VAS) at R49.00 per month (or 30 days), in addition to the current data charge levied.” MyBroadband

To activate your free three month trial of 3.6Mbps on your prepaid handset simply dial *111#, option 8, option 3, option 2, option 1.

Vodacom has also set up this handy speedtest so users can test their new speeds.

MTN on the other hand is said to be rolling out 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, this however is only available in some area’s of South Africa and terms apply.

fringsters go get your free Vodacom 3.6Mbps connection now!

Limpopo going wireless for 2010

fringsters in the Limpopo province will be happy to know that Limpopo is set to receive a huge wireless boost after the provincial government announced that they are undertaking to install a huge wireless broadband network in the province.

The project will see more than 6000 sites being connected, including some 4400 schools and rural hospitals, it is said that the project will be completed by March 2010.

According to local government 13 companies have been shortlisted for the tender, the winning bid will be announced on February 23.

This looks like good news for the Limpopo province.

Thanks to News24 for this news.

Go Green with mobile solar energy

fringsters this year why not make your mobile phone go green!
How do I do that you may ask.

Easy, instead of charging your phone with a wall socket why not go green and use solar power? There are quite a few good mobile solar chargers now available in South Africa.

Next time you plug in your mobile ask yourself what am I doing to save the environment, then pop over to your local store and do something to go green.

A charger that caught my attention this week is the Plantronics Power Monkey Explorer. This sexy little charger comes with a few tweaks and can even be used to power your ipod, bluetooth headset, digital camera and a range of other mobile devices. The cost you may ask? For a mere R970.00 you can take your mobile green.

Make the smart move, go green today!

GSMA mobile world congress 2008 - Will you be there?

fring will be attending the GSMA mobile world congress in Barcelona 11-14 February 2008

fring is proud to have been invited by Nokia to take part in the forum Nokia stand, where we will be unveiling and demonstrating some extremely exciting new developments from fring. We will have a booth at the forum Nokia demonstration area, on the upper level of the main Nokia stand in Hall 8. Come and say hi!

We have also reserved space in the press center, so members of the media or bloggers who wish to set-up a meeting, please email: neal@fring.com

See you guys there.

Tweeking your Twitter experiance with fring

By now most fringsters know that fring supports Twitter but there is a growing list of third party applications that are now Twitter enabled. This makes them fring enabled too. Here are some examples of the things fring Twitters can now try…

1. Use Twittercal to update your Google Calendar from Twitter.
2. I want Sandy provides an integrated web - Twitter - fring - email appointment reminder service.
3. You can use fring and Twitter to send reminders to your computer with Kwiry.
4. Manage your “Remember The Milk” based “to do” list with Twitter and fring.
5. System administrators and others can use Twitter and fring to automatically monitor their server’s status.
6. Track how you progress (or don’t progress) your household chores with Mychores.
7. Get BBC news headlines via Twitter (..and fring). Other Twitter-ised news services are as available.
8. Track fake personalities in cyberspace. Here’s a list.

I’m sure in 2008 many new twitter tweeks and tricks will be available.

In case you are new to fring and don’t quite know how to set up Twitter on fring you can check out our “how to” video here.

Thank you to Tim our Australian Blogger for this info.

Long lasting batteries not just a dream

Many people wish for long lasting mobile batteries but they may also feel that this is just a dream!

Assistant Professor Yi Cui of Stanford University is someone who knows this is not just a dream.
Cui has big plans to improve rechargeable lithium ion batteries.

“The current technology is great, but we want to move it one big step further,” Cui says. “If you charge up your laptop battery, you can use it for four hours. What if you want to use it for 24 hours? Say you’re taking an international flight, and you aren’t able to recharge it.”

“We are talking about an energy density two to three times higher than current technology, or even higher,” “Basically, we want to change the fundamental mechanism of how the battery works.”

Cui’s theory is that tiny silicon filaments known as Nanowires can replace traditional carbon. “Silicon Nanowires have a much higher capacity for energy, so they should allow a battery to hold more energy.” says Cui

The Menlo Park-based venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures believes Cui’s theory has the “potential to disrupt current thinking” in this field and as such they have awarded Cui the much needed funding to continue researching this technology. Cui and four other University students where awarded funding during the “inaugural Innovators Award” in November 2007. pocketpicks.co.uk

fringsters this means that “Thanks to the new concept, a mobile phone that now has a stand-by time of 6 days could operate for 60 days with a single full battery charge. The same goes for laptops, video cameras and other devices.” softpedia

Hopefully we will all soon be able fring even more with extended battery life. Thanks to Mr. Cui and a venture firm willing to back him. Thank you guys!

We will follow this story and keep readers informed as to developments.

emTube brings YouTube mobile

fringsters you may be happy to know that thanks to Sebastian Jedruszkiewicz you can now watch your favorite YouTube video’s using any Symbian S60 3rd edition mobile handsets.

emTube is free to download and use, however be warned though that this is a data intensive application and works best using 3G or faster mobile internet connection . What makes this application great though is the fact that you can save your favorite YouTube video’s to your phone for easy offline viewing.

emTube is freeware but user donations are always welcomed. If you feel the application rocks, Either spread the word or donate to the author using Paypal.

I took emTube for a spin recently and attached a few screen shots.