Tech Digest

"Oi, where d'you think you're going?"

Ever wished you could jump straight to the front of the queue like a celeb when you go to see your favourite band?  Well if you're a Virgin Mobile customer, now you can. Mobile Marketing Magazine reports that Virgin has launched a queue-jumping facility that runs at selected gigs at Carling Academy venues across the UK.

Ads at the venues give instructions on how to jump the queue by texting 'Qjump' to a dedicated shortcode number. In return, you get a barcode sent to your phone that you scan at a terminal to convert it to a ticket that lets you and a mate jump straight to the front of the queue while all the other suckers shout abuse at you and try to work out which obscure band you're a member of. Clever eh?

Get the full story here. 

One Minute Video Review: Motorola KRZR

Here's Ashley and I looking at the Motorola KRZR, and having heaps of fun trying to figure out how you say it. There's also a respectable amount of time looking at what exactly it does. Expect it to appear in the shops in the next few weeks.

Vodafone launches new call plans and advice for small businesses

Sky has a new show TV show under the name of The Big Idea, claimed to be the UK's largest-ever search to discover the next great British invention or business idea (with the winner pocketing £100,000 to carry it off). Vodafone is sponsoring it - and has taken this ideal marketing opportunity to launch new small business tariffs, starting from £22 per month.

Vodafone has research claiming just under 33 per cent of the population is considering setting up a company in the next five years - which makes you wonder where the staff will come from. But it also shows you the market for business-friendly tariffs. Vodafone's Small Business Plan starts at £22 per month and offers inclusive free calls between company handsets, mobile email for £5 per month, price plan reviews and the option to switch plans regularly. There's also 'same advisor' business support.

The company is also offering mobile access to a range of tools helpful to anyone starting up a business. For more information, check out the Vodafone business pages.

Samsung to launch slim Symbian SGH-i520 HSDPA smartphone in Europe?

According to various online rumours, Samsung is set to launch the SGH-i520 HSDPA (super 3G) smartphone in Europe this week - more specifically, at the Symbian Smartphone Show, which opens tomorrow (Tuesday) in London.

The  SGH-i520 is based on the Symbian operating system and Nokia's Series 60 (S60) user interface. The slider handset is just 1.8cm-thick and is expected to feature full PDA functionality, a 2.3in display, Bluetooth 2.0 on board and a two megapixel camera.

We'll hopefully have more details after the official launch - along with a shipping date for the UK and Europe.

Samsung website

Via The Register

Mint offers credit card payments via sms messaging

We recently covered HSBC and First Direct's forays into banking via text messaging. Well, they're not alone - credit card provider Mint (part of the Royal Bank of Scotland) is getting in on the act, offering the TextDebit service for paying off credit card bills in conjunction with Telrock.

The service allows Mint cardholders to pay their monthly balances on their mobile phones from pre-registered debit cards, as well as being able to request balance inquiries and available credit balances, view mini statements and pay outstanding balances in full or part amount anywhere in the world. It all uses sms - register your card with the company for the service, then use the service via passwords assigned to your phone, with transactions only taking place once authentication by both parties has taken place.

Telrock hopes their system will become the standard for sms banking - which is likely to be next year's big growth area in personal banking.

Mint website

Vodafone and Phones 4u link up: Carphone Warehouse unhappy

Vodafone has done a deal with Phones 4u that will ensure P4U is the only third-party UK company allowed to sell Vodafone mobile contracts. This ends the previous partnership with the Carphone Warehouse who can now only sell pay-as-you-go phones on the Vodafone network.

"Phones 4u is fully aligned with the Vodafone strategy of delivering a superior customer experience. This strategic deal will... ensure we can target all key customer segments through their channel of choice," said Voda UK CEO Nick Read.

OK, but some are speculating that Vodafone is doing some kind of payback for CW getting increasingly involved in broadband by acquiring AOL.

Not surprisingly CW aren't happy, saying that it will limit consumer choice as Phones 4u will now be working towards selling Vodafone quotas. Vodafone had apparently approached CW prior to inking the P4U deal, but CW declined as they said they sold phones based on what was best for the customer, not the mobile phone companies.

Acoustic Energy and Orange launch Orange-branded Bluetooth speaker system

So, you've got a Bluetooth-enabled phone full of tunes and you want to listen to them in the living room. What do you do? Well, Orange hope you'll go out and buy their stereo Bluetooth loudspeaker system.

The Orange-branded (and Acoustic Energy-made) stereo Bluetooth speaker system uses Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) technology for wireless wide bandwidth stereo over distances of up to 10m, which can then be played back through the 20w amplifier. It's plug and play - as long as you have a compatible phone, PDA, PC or MP3 player. Just select a track or playlist, press play and the Bluetooth loudspeaker system blast out your tune. For improved stereo, the stereo mini-monitor loudspeakers can be detached from the Bluetooth receiver/amplifier unit and separated by up to 2m. And if you haven't got Bluetooth, you can plug your device into the speaker system.

The Orange Bluetooth wireless loudspeaker system will go on sale this month at selected Orange shops at around £89.99.

Orange website

Motorola P790 portable power charger

We featured one way of getting power on the move (and without a plug socket) yesterday with the UPB10 by APC. Now Motorola has launched their own solution, with the P790 portable charger.

It's small enough to fit into your pocket and plugs into your Motorola handset or Bluetooth headset’s mini-USB port when you need some extra power on the go. The P790 is fully rechargeable and reusable - a single charge of the unit provides two full re-charges for handsets (approx. 300 - 400 minutes of talk time) or more than ten for Bluetooth headsets before it needs to be charged up itself. 

It also comes with a single wall charger, so you can charge both phone and P790 together. Available in the coming weeks, price to be confirmed.

Motorola website

Palm's colourful Treo 680 smartphone debuts

If the Palm Treo 750v was a bit rich for your tastes, you might be interested in the company's new entry-level model - the Palm Treo 680, which is slimmer than other Treo handsets and also available in a choice of colours.

The Treo 680 is being pitched at the "professional consumer" - which probably means someone who wants the added functionality of a smartphone, but doesn't want to sacrifice the looks. Saying that, it doesn't look much different to the 750v, apart from the colour. The 680 a quand-band phone with 320x320 colour screen, Bluetooth, enhanced sms messaging (you can view as a thread rather than individual messages), 64MB of storage (which can be boosted by card), email, web browsing (via Blazer 4.5), music player, VGA camera, photo album and Documents To Go - so you can view, edit and share Word and Excel documents. The operating system is Palm OS.

It's available in red, orange, white and silver. Or rather will be - Palm isn't being specific about a release date in Europe, but will be clearer towards the end of this year, they assure us.

Find out more

Sony Ericsson launches limited edition James Bond Casino Royale silver K800i Cyber-shot camera phone

Somehow the plain old Sony Ericsson K800i will never be enough with the James Bond Casino Royale silver K800i Cyber-shot camera phone about to hit the stores. But hurry - they're only available for a limited time.

Both the K800i and Sony Ericsson's M600i appear in the movie, so it's authentic Bond kit. The specifications haven't changed, you're still getting a phone with 3.2 megapixel camera, dedicated shutter button, auto red eye reduction, printing without a PC with PictBridge, video and image stabiliser function, BestPic (pick your best shot out of 9) and fully integrated Picture Blogging. There's also a two inch QVGA 262K TFT display, 64MB internal flash memory with Memory Stick Micro M2 expansion, Bluetooth, full HTML browsing with RSS feeds, support for standard push email, video recording and playback, a music Player supporting MP3/AAC plus FM radio and 3D gaming.

However, you do get some Bond add-ons - Bond wallpapers, music ringtones and the full video movie trailer. The special edition Bond K800i Cyber-shot phones will be available worldwide during the latter part of 2006. Price to be confirmed.

Sony Ericsson