ArchiveSeptember, 2007

At Wirefly we always have a lot of people asking “what’s the right age for a child to have a cell phone?” and we’ve written about some parental control features that help it make more sense for kids to have phones.

But apparently the United States market has nothing on Japan. According to data from the Japan Mobile Market statistical handbook, last year 29% of children aged 5-9 in Japan are currently toting around cell phones. And that number is expected to more than double to 64% by the end of this year. Brand preferences are apparently established early in Japan.

And we thought adults on cell phones were annoying.

We’d been expecting news from T-Mobile regarding a new line of Sidekick cell phones, and the carrier delivered yesterday, when it announced not one, but two new Sidekick models.

The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide and the T-Mobile Sidekick LX both debuted on Wednesday, and are expected to hit the market later this fall. The LX is similar to previous versions of the Sidekick, with a swiveling screen that opens up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The LX is thinner than its predecessors, with high-def LCD display technology, a flash camera, an expandable memory card, and cool mood lighting.

The Sidekick Slide, however, tweaks the design even further. For starters, it’s manufactured by Motorola – other Sidekick models have been produced by Sharp. The most noticeable difference is the new sliding mechanism (hence the name); rather than swiveling open like a door, the display on this cell phone slides open to provide access to the keyboard. Most of the features remain the same, but this critical change provides an option for Sidekick fans who prefer sliding to swiveling.

Personally, I’ve always thought the sliding mechanism is a smoother, simpler motion; slider cell phones do tend to have a more compact feel. The Sidekick Slider definitely delivers on that level. But that’s just one man’s opinion…

In the meantime, if you’re shopping for a new cell phone right now, this is an ideal time to find a great deal on the T-Mobile Sidekick iD. With the new models lurking, the popular iD – perfect for messaging and web browsing, and compatible with T-Mobile’s myFaves service – is available at Wirefly for just $50 (after instant discount and rebate).

Earlier in the year, the Wirefly team discussed the initiatives Chinese manufacturers were taking toward standardizing cell phone chargers across all cell phone manufacturers. We wondered whether such a move would ever happen here in the U.S. and how nice it would be for consumers and the environment.

So you can imagine how excited we were by the news that Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson – the manufacturers responsible for 85% of the GSM cell phone market – agreed to standardize their cell phone chargers to micro-USB. Not only will this development help cut down on cable clutter, it will, according to Nokia, “enhance user experience with a singular and stronger data transfer and charging interface.� Okay. Sounds good.

Whatever the motivation, as a multiple cell phone user and a gadget geek, I am all too enthused at the opportunity to reduce some of the clutter around my desk by using one charger for all of my cell phones. Now if we can just get home entertainment system manufacturers to follow suit.

What makes Wirefly better than any of the carrier sites (besides much lower prices) is that we allow people to shop across all carriers. That makes comparing wireless rate plans a snap.

To make that task even easier, we redesigned the Wireless Wizard — a unique and very cool plan-comparison tool that lets you enter basic information about your current cell phone plan and then shows you which plans would save you money on your monthly bill. Even if you know you got the cheapest plan when you first signed your contract, the way you use your phone might have changed. Combined with the fact that carrier plan options change all the time, that’s a great reason to go back and make sure you’re still on the cheapest rate plan available.

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Surprise! Apple doesn’t think it’s a good idea for you to unlock your iPhone via an unauthorized hacking program.

Since the iPhone’s release, a growing number of online sources have popped up claiming to provide a way to unlock an iPhone – in other words, to enable it for use with a carrier other than AT&T. Obviously, this runs contrary to Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T, and, as a result, tampering with an iPhone in this way voids the phone’s warranty and software license agreement. Any hacker is certainly aware of these legal caveats.

However, earlier this week, Apple released another warning to potential iPhone hackers: if you unlock your iPhone, it may cease to function after the next official software patch. According to Apple executives, “modified� iPhones could be irreparably harmed by the next software update – which will include several upgrades and new features, including access to the iTunes WiFi music store.

The bottom line for potential iPhone hackers: you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

We all know the theory of portion control and what’s healthy for us to eat, but what if we had to take a picture of everything we actually ate and send it to a nutritionist for evaluation? That’s the premise behind Nutrax and myFoodPhone – new mobile nutritional services.

I heard of something similar in Japan a while ago but hadn’t realized they were now available here. You take a picture of your meals (and snacks) before you eat them with your camera phone and send them to your nutritional advisor. Nutrax also encourages you to send pictures of your fitness activities as well. The idea is that you’re not recording what you think you ate but that someone actually sees the portion sizes and content of your meals and offers feedback to help you make better choices.

And I’m guessing that the idea of taking a picture of every Cheeto and ice cream cone might make you think twice and go for a walk instead.

There seems to be a trend toward tele-medical services around cell phones and services. DocAlarm offers medical providers the option to set up patient reminders for appointments or even daily reminders to take medication at specific times.

Nokia, one of the world’s leading cell phone manufacturers, is expanding its focus, as evidenced by a series of recent acquisitions and initiatives. The company best known as the global leader in cell phones; now it’s moving into the growing sphere of mobile content and social media.

When Nokia finalized its purchase of the mobile ad firm Enpocket last week, the transaction became the most recent in a string of clear signals indicating the company is shifting towards a new, more diverse type of business model.

“We see the growth of our company as getting into Internet services… we’re putting so many phones our there that have advanced video capability and WiFi. So, the more that we can put services behind them, the more we can connect people, do really interesting things, and grow ourselves in interesting ways.�

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