racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

Messaging is among the biggest applications in the mobile industry. Whether it involves SMS, emails or instant messages, smartphones and featurephones alike will need to support these features. With this, Samsung has announced plans to launch a cross-network and cross-platform messaging service called ChatON this week.

VoIP or internet phone is the number one phoning technology as experts as well as its users know the infinite benefits that it can offer to them. This article will look at a future technology in its making that would not only replace the landline phone but the cell phones as well.

Background concept behind mobile VoIP

VoIP has been around for many years now, but mobile VoIP is still not that common in use. The first time this concept was introduced, many industry experts said that this technology will not be practically possible to be successfully implemented. There were many reasons at the time of introduction of this technology.

The first major hurdle was the slow wireless internet connection which meant that you could not transfer the data at the required speeds. The second problem was the slow mobile phones with low computing powers which created a major hurdle in having devices which could handle all the tasks simultaneously. Lastly the infrastructure was also a big problem as not all places had the type of infrastructural support for such fast internet speeds.

With the passage of time most of these hurdles have been overcome. New smart phones have been introduced which have better computing power and the ability to handle multiple tasks without any problem. The overall development in the infrastructure has been great because now wireless networks are able to handle faster data transfer speed without any glitches.

I got an invitation to attend the launch party of this yet-undisclosed (as of that time) telco, but I wasn’t able to attend. Turns out it was ü Mobile, and they had launched an innovative (relatively) mobile service, which lets users get free credits for receiving advertisements.

The service seems to be exclusive, though, as they are targeting the 15- to 35-year old demographic. That’s understood, given the need to target advertisements. And perhaps we can assume that if you’re over 35, you probably don’t have the patience to read ads; or perhaps you have enough disposable income that you would prefer to pay for services rather than get freebies.

And so I got a call the other day from ü Mobile telling me they are sending over a SIM card. I got the SIM this morning, and excitedly plugged it into my Nokia 1112. After several attempts to make calls and send SMS, I gave up. I had a hunch that the service only worked over 3G networks, which i confirmed after calling customer service.

It’s a bit disappointing, since the ü Mobile network supposedly ran over Smart’s network. So ideally it should work both on the UMTS and GSM networks. I did have a spare 3G-enabled phone I could use the SIM on, but it was locked to Smart. Even if ü Mobile were a Smart brand, I still couldn’t use it because of the locks (while other Smart brands like Talk n Text and Addict Mobile can be used on Smart-locked phones).

Easiest option for now would be to plug the SIM into my E51 (review to follow), but then being my main mobile (for use with both business and personal calls and text, IM’ing and VoIP) I would rather not.

Or, I could have my LG KU250 unlocked, but it would void warranty. Or perhaps I could acquire another (unlocked) 3G-enabled mobile, but this would be a truly unnecessary expense.

My ü Mobile SIM would have to wait, then. Ah, the lost advertising opportunities.

You know you’re really busy when:

Another indication you might be really busy is when your blog posts are this short.

A friend is doing research for his graduate degree in communications and has asked me to share this with fellow Filipino bloggers. If you have time, please answer this survey: PinoyBlogging: Goals, Trends& Baseline Survey (V 1.3).

Blogging is slowly emerging as an alternative communication medium worldwide. In the Philippines, blog sites like Friendster, Multiply, and i.ph have started becoming popular, first among the youth, and more recently among adults and professionals.

We wish to obtain a baseline reading of how Pinoys use, engage, participate, read, socialize, benefit from and communicate via blogs. This is a part of our requirements for UP College of Mass Communication Class on Communication Research Methods.

For questions and inquiries, please visit our blog at CommTheo3.multiply.com or text us at (0922) 8266353.

They need responses by this weekend, and they can share the results by end of this month. We would also appreciate it if you can spread the word by blogging about it.