The beginning of game-changing technologies are almost always marked by triviality before transformation. The internet has been covered with ideas and concept images which all focus on Glass’s key feature of over layering information on to your sight. though as we know from todays apps markets this is only the beginning. Its little reminiscent of computers being initially perceived as slide rules or iPhones as portable gaming consoles as thats how they were perceived by the general public not has useful devices to help you get things done but thats the nature of evolution of this ideas we all have to start with basic 1.0 ideas but now we really don’t need publish them. I will always remember my first app on my kinda hacked N95 – when everyone discovered that there was a few extras chips inside which hadn’t been talked about, letting you activate the gyroscope and so install an app which moves a small ball when you move the device horizontally or vertically.

Google Glass takes this idea one step further, to remove yet another layer between humans and computers and who knows what’ll happen when we remove another layer. Maybe the next step is to remove the device and place everything in the contact lens and then us the eye as the ultimate lens and download the image and videos via some sort of biotec I/O. What transformation can we expect when users can access the same technology they’ve always been using, but while simultaneously doing something important with both hands?

Over the last few years, the touch interface revolution has given us the method to simplify how we achieve tasks and get results. Though some would say touch keyboards are a step to side at the moments even myself find them good but not better than a keyboard but I digress the main point is that people spend less time learning and more time doing and there is no need to bring a mouse.

Since I was reading about all the developments of Glass it got me thinking how I could use it whilst travelling here in Latin America where most backpackers play a balancing act of looking poor enough in hope of  getting attacked but we all needing information to help us travel and stay safe. Since pulling out a smart phone with a large apple logo is never a good idea in places like Quito, Guatemala city and other places it got me thinking is having more natural looking set of a glasses a better idea but soon enough if Glasses are the next input method everyone is going to recognise someone weathering $1500 device on their face. This reminds me on my bluetooth headset with big flashing blue light to let users know that it was connected but its also let everyone else know you had some sort of smartphone and expensive headphones on you. Both function great as devices but little has been thought of about security of the user.

Smartphone for myself dont work for a backpacker too many issues with phone costs its just easier to use Skype but what about Glasses, id wear them as a replacement of tablet as you could watch films on them, use Skype on them and also i can imagine using maps has i would be compass and face the direction. no more guessing which direction the town centre is or finding me other solutions when plans don’t work out of of bus stations have moved or something like this but i still think you’ll more of a target and just talking to people and asking for information might be more useful than relaying on a device in developing countries…

Travellers could soon start moving away from being “mobile-savvy” to “glass-savvy”. That paradigm shift is not so far but this would only work for travellers with 4G or local wifi connections but they are pretty much everywhere.

just a last note on the feeling from the websites i read. It seem that developers are fascinated with Glass and other wearable devices but from what everyone is saying its an eco system is still a buggy, crash-prone prototype one it’s inspiring imaginations enough that I can see a nascent ecosystem growing around it long before the first consumer devices ship but the big question is will it a humble pair of glasses that will inspire the next eco system or will it be something else or just a evolution of our smartphones. Let see.

handy links:
Glasses travel services
The evolution of Augmented Reality
History of Mobile AR
apps are easy to develop, but brutally difficult to design well

So after Mexican phones, It was time to hop across the water with Cubana to see if everything you hear is really true about this magical sugar covered island. Cuba is a destination that we were extremely looking forward to, maybe because of the factor that its people are still living in a in pre internet eara bubble plus a lot more. They are opening up to the world slowly but it’s a process that probably will take a long, long time. And maybe that’s for their own good. I had heard that there was a new a internet pipe from Venezuela and the Caribbean island but such a huge change wouldn’t and shouldn’t take place overnight, right? Cuba has one of the lowest internet penetration rate of only max 5%, even if it feels a bit “painful” for us, tourists, sometimes.

Well, a lot of the truth as with everything in Cuba takes time to observe and understand. Cuba’s domestic telecommunications infrastructure is limited in scope and is only appropriate for the early days of the Internet. There is virtually no broadband Internet access in Cuba. Cuba’s mobile network is limited in coverage and uses “second generation” technology, suited to voice conversations and text messaging, but not Internet applications. Telecommunications between Cuba and the rest of the world is limited to the Intersputnik system and aging telephone lines connecting with the United States. Total bandwidth between Cuba and the global Internet is just 209 Mbit/s upstream and 379 downstream. Most people we saw in our Casa’s use dial up. Over the last few months there had been much chatter on the internet about the activation on Alba-1 which sprung into life in February 2013 but when talking about this most people had no clue about any new internet connection or knew nothing about but it,  still said they had no access to the internet. The only place I saw any sort of wifi signal was in The Nation Hotel – a 5 start hotel where only recently Cubans where not allowed into. Although thing are charging, slowly and we told that quota on email content had been lifted from 50kb per email attachment to 500kb per attachment. We where explained how families stay in contact with their loved ones out side, generally I was told you find some who has been approved for an internet connection and they rent their time and bandwidth to you but also they rent their email address so alot of the time email are copied on to USB portable pen drives and then sneaker net, a process of physically walking to the person and copying the content over. When we were finished talking I could feel a little bit of doubt, if they should have told me but they also said that everyone is doing it.

The communications Status Quo Is always changing, Sorting out the hype of reform rhetoric from the substance is a fulltime job. From we saw, there are mobile phones an you can get them but its limited and expensive. Regarding the internet its there but for everyday cubans is non existent. Only the stuff of tourists and five star hotels. Wifi in general life is non-existent so finding out there to go is hard if you dont plan everything list detail or have a Lonely Planet with you and public payphone.

In talking with our hosts son the subject of MMB and other services came up and he states that these services for everyday use is pointless and there is NO 3G in the country. Why have anything more than a feature phone (he pulled out a stand Nokia and pointed to a low end Samsung phone) then he told me. Anything else is just a fashionable brick as technology is stuck in the 90′s. This does cry out that there is huge opportunity for Cubans to design there own app when 3G or even 4G and any sort of internet is rolled out. Some are ready, since 2007 having a computer wasn’t illegal ownership has rocked with most owning some sort of personal computer running windows. We all know that it isn’t going to be iOS, Android and comparatively OSX & Windows 8 showing up in Cuba but really it’ll be cheap brands that already have presence in Latin America. Who also want to be present in this new latin american makret that the anglophone world doesn’t focus on. Also seeing more and more cheap smartphones here in central America but more on that in my next post.

Cuba Mobile Phone, you mean payphone right ?!: Getting a mobile phones and renting them is possible but really not worth it. Here are some details.

>  Your GSM mobile handset:

• Operates on the 900mhz freq.
• Is already unlocked (you might be able to get it unlocked in one of many repaire shops – head towards the university)
• Cell phone service in cuba even on PayGo is very expensive!
• Activation is around $30-40 and should come with some credit

>  Rates *per minute

• Local Rates .45cuc from 7a-11p / .10cuc from 11p-7a
• Local Rates are paid both ways.
• International Rates – 1.85 to US / 1.80 rest of the world
• International Incoming Calls are FREE!

>  SMS

• free incoming
• .16 per message local
• 1.00 per msg intl

>  Data

• It won’t work, if you must use the internet, most hotels have internet cafe’s 6.00 per hour. speeds are ok – entry level dsl speeds.

After two months of travel and experiencing, how different cultures and countries tackle communication and observing on a high level the user experience and living it first hand how are it can to be communicate with people, I am really looking forward to central America and seeing what problems lies there others than borders officials and unofficial exit/entering country taxes.* yes Mexico/Belize borader you know. For more about our trip to Cuba check out the extended posts.

One of the best things about exploring various places is coming across great devices you just dont have in the UK or Europe. Unlike most vistors that focus on the places, people, bars and whatnots. I always seem to look and what people are using as electric devices. Occupational hazard I guess.  I do like to see different devices solving different problems that aren’t universal. So today I introduce to you a company called Lanix. For those of you who have not heard of them (dont worry I was in the same boat see their wiki page) they are a Mexican electronics company based in Hermosillo, Mexico and they are Mexico’s largest domestically owned electronics company, and sells a wide array of both consumer and professional electronics. Including Smartphones, Tables, Screens and EPOS systems plus more.

The device that caught my was interest was, while I was travel on the metro in Mexico city and saw this young boy holding a blue device what looked like a blackberry 9320 looking device but with a huge radio antena, not something you generally see in Europe. Looked more like an 1990′s sony portable TV. I later saw the device again in a phone shop and it tured out to be a Lanix LX5. So this sparked my interested in what other tech can be our there that isn’t in everyday European consumers hands. I asked the sellers and they seem very curious about my curiosity and all I could say is that we dont have any analog tv channels anymore. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to use the device so I cant really talk about the UX or the software side of things as yet. *but ill try and find one.

Generally any google .com or .co.uk searches came up nothing. Using google.com.mx I did came up with Spanish reviews as Lanix seem only to focus on the Latin American countries. Which is understandable why there isn’t anything in English. I found this brief description about the phone.

“The Lanix Lx 5 is one very basic cell, however, has some interesting features and is an excellent choice if you are looking for is to stay connected and want to enjoy some entertainment on your phone, but at a very accessible.

So, here are the features of this phone.

From the very successful family Lanix, the Lanix Lx 5 , has a color screen 2 inches , excellent to read your posts without problems and see the call log, among other things. The dimensions of this phone are 112.6 x 62.5 x 12.6 mm and has a QWERTY keyboard .

The agenda of this phone supports up to 500 contacts to which they can add a contact photo to be displayed when they call, has a card slot where you can insert a MicroSD card that will give you up to 8GB of internal memory.

While Lanix Lx 5 has a very simple camera with VGA resolution of 640×480 pixels, it is capable of recording video with audio .

If you’re bored, your phone will analog TV tuner, MP3 player, FM Radio, Bluetooth and mini USB connection or entertain you with their classic game “Snake” that comes preloaded.

You can divert calls, use International Roaming, also has voice dialing (an equally advanced for a cell of its kind), alarm and speaker .

You can choose between different colors of this model for you, which are: orange, white, blue and purple. Catch it in your dealer Telcel Amigo Kit Licensed for an approximate price of 700 pesos.”

Phone Details

Acceso directo a TV análoga
QWERTY keyboard
Screen: 2.0“
Radio FM

mini USB
Bluetooth 2.0

MP3 Player
Audio 3.5mm

VGA Camara
WAP 2.0
MMS,SMS

So as I travel, I hope to come across more devices like this as I really interested in solutions that caters to other markets and as I might use apple devices and others Im interested in other eco systems and device solutions.

Hi everyone, been a while since I last posted to this blog, I’ve been more into my travel and photography blog. On a personal note i’ve been exploring the west coast of Canada and US for the last three weeks. Next stop: Mexico City.

So on a kinda related note, a couple of months ago I had the chance to review and test some Nokia pre-release devices, which ended up being the lastest Nokia Asha 2013 phones. I’ve always been more interested in the Nokia Lumia range than the Asha range but I looks like its finally getting a major push. Full discloser I am a bit of old fan of the Nokia – wishing they could get their act together really. As I am currently travelling, this phone could be really useful for me, as i got ride of my iPhone due the microsim possible issues in various countries. With 2 Sim card holders and Wifi – what more would I need, One UK simcard, one a International local simcard and Skype via Wifi. Great for saving money and staying connected all whilst not being tied in to a single ecosystem.

That means that owners can enjoy the benefits of both Wi-Fi and Dual SIM, such as saving money by choosing a wireless network for accessing the Internet, and the flexibility of being able to use the right SIM card for the right purpose, without having to change handsets.

The Nokia Asha 310 has Dual SIM on steroids. Nokia’s Easy Swap Dual SIM technology is designed to make swapping between different SIM cards as easy as possible, in order to get better tariffs or to switch between SIMs for personal or work use. Your main SIM card sits behind the battery, as normal. But the slot for the second SIM on the side of the phone allows you to switch the second SIM easily, without needing to switch off the phone. With the SIM manager you can assign unique profiles for up to five SIM cards and define which SIM card you want to use for calling, sending text messages or for using Internet data.

The Asha 310 is taking Nokia S40 one step closer and it looks like (the NokiaOS/Intelligent Software Architecture) platform has come one leaps and bounds since I last used a Nokia device 5800, C3 and to be honest the N95 – yes that long ago.) a smartphone with an unbeatable price point. The latest version of the Nokia Xpress Browser is available for the Nokia Asha 310 via an over-the-air download. The Nokia Xpress Browser compresses data by up to 90 per cent, meaning that you can download pages quickly even over a slow connection, and save money at the same time, without compromising the browsing experience.

The introduction of Nokia Asha 310 is clear evidence that the gap in the user experience between entry-level smartphones and feature phones is blurring. This phone mimics to perfection key aspects of a smartphone including touch/gesture UI, support for various connectivity solutions, storage footprint, and most importantly support for more popular applications and multimedia content.

With the introduction Nokia Asha 310, many of the key features of smartphone have been included such as Nokia Maps works online and offline, while the Nokia Nearby web app will point out the local sights and places to go. When you’ve finished playing with those, thousands more apps are available from Nokia Store.

One of the big questions I have is, “Why is Nokia still using S40 Symbian” I get that due to licensing issues Nokia hasn’t managed to get it together with Microsoft. Microsoft does plans to bring the Windows Phone experience to budget handsets for developing markets this year with its Tango & 7.8 effort, but it’s not clear if that will be aimed at quite the same audience as Meltemi. It’s worth noting that Nokia currently uses S40 across a wide range of very different products, including low-end such as the Asha 310 and other devices that consist mostly of a numerical keypad, and mid-range touchscreen devices with specs that are comparable to modest smartphones. Being able to adopt Windows Phone across everything from high-end devices to feature phones would give Nokia a valuable opportunity to consolidate its developer base and reduce internal fragmentation, and give developers confidence that OS wont disappear over night such as Meego etc. but Tango hasn’t been able to scale all the way down to the bottom rung of S40-class devices as yet.

However, Other limitations of the S40 Asha 310 feature phone, it does not support always-on connectivity and content push for data applications, which means applications are not refreshed dynamically without a prompt from the user. This together with the relatively low-processing performance and the lack of multitasking could disqualify this type of devices from being included in the smartphone category. Having said that, in comparison to a smartphone, Asha 310 is much less bandwidth consuming and is less of a burden on the network in terms of signalling. This means users can make significant savings on their data plans while consuming the same content compared to on a smartphone.

A full-touch device with a scratch-proof 3-inch display, the Nokia Asha 310 also offers a 2-megapixel camera. There’s a MicroSD card slot for extra storage, and either a 2GB or 4GB card is included in the box. Of course, if this is not enough and you want to store even more content on your phone, you can extend the storage up to 32 GB. The sleek, polished shell comes in black, white and gold colour choices.

While Nokia Asha devices shifted a solid 9.3 million units, Nokia Lumia phones sold just 4.4 million. Asha smartphones, which have touchscreen smarts and use the company’s own ageing Symbian S40 software, are nowhere near as powerful as Lumia handsets which pack in the latest tech and run Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform.

Nokia will be hoping that these strong sales will give it a good chance of competing with Google Android in the budget end of the smartphone sector. The Big G’s operating system is powering ahead in the fight to capture this lucrative market, with BlackBerry close behind. Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper iPhone to satisfy growing demand from consumers in these countries too.

If you are interested in the budget friendly side of the Nokia Lumia phones check out the article on Engadget on the Lumia 620

Another great link to helping understand theses two phones Comparing the Asha 310 vs Lumia 620

Related Links:
Skype for Symbian (For Asha 310)
VoIP support in Nokia devices
How to download skype on nokia asha 310
Nokia Asha 310 vs Asha 311
UCbrowser for Nokia Asha