The INQ1 is more than just a phone with a mobile web browser to view Facebook. The device is dedicated to social networking and Facebook, being one of the largest, is an obvious focus. The phone will also keep you connected with your other social networks using a system of widgets and shortcuts to all your communication means. An added benefit to this uber-communication device, is that it is in the midrange of handset prices. So if you’re looking for a device that isn’t your standard expensive smartphone, but will keep you in touch will all your friends and relatives, this could be your device.
Ustream.tv are working on a mobile streaming video application and it looks really efficient. The only problem is, does the world need yet another video streaming app? I never really got into the scene, mostly because I didn’t get into the community surrounding it. Many of my friends don’t have phones that are capable of making decent video, so they weren’t in the community either. At that point, I have to start sharing videos with total strangers, which is kind of weird. Also, these sites get completely bombarded by web cam girls who have a tendency to ruin everything they touch. For example, tapatap.com is a good site, but if you start networking with girls with cute avatars, you’ll quickly run into a girl sending you a link to either her porn site, or the porn site that employs her. Happened to me many a times. If these guys can build a community like FaceBook, where it’s all bros and no hos, we’re good.
Every BlackBerry user has a special love for their BlackBerry theme of choice. As one of the few ways users can personalize their BlackBerry, it’s a pretty significant statement: do you choose something trendy like an iBerry theme, or relive your youth with a Super Mario Bros theme?
We were recently contacted by DreamTheme, a company that is looking to evolve BlackBerry personalization beyond simple themes with LiveScreens. LiveScreens are essentially animated homescreen applications, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. Hit the jump and come check out one of the coolest new things you can put on your BlackBerry.
MobiThinking has put together a list of what it considers to be the top principles of a good mobile website and they list examples of what sites they feel exemplify these best practices. The list of principles is great but I found their examples to be very lacking. The white paper mostly focuses on the major sites and brands such as ESPN and the Weather Network, but completely lacks any popular technology blogs such as Engadget, who have a great mobile site. I’ll post the categories and examples, as well as point out some good insight from a fellow blogger Jason DaPonte, who works with BBC Mobile Platforms. Click through to read the best of the mobile web 2008 as well as some good insight
Zumobi announced the availability of Ziibii, a free iPhone App now available on iTunes . Ziibii users enjoy a new way to stay in-touch and in-the-loop with friends, photos and the world around them. Blending Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and web content into a fresh experience, Ziibii is easy-to-use, fun to explore, and offers great features for wireless consumers as well as brands.
Ziibii enables real-time social interaction between users across a variety of popular social media applications, as well as on-going discovery of news, stories and blogs throughout the day. Displayed on the screen of the handset, Ziibii’s visual expression metaphor is a river with content “rafts” floating with the user’s pre-defined content, including direct-connect to social networking sites and RSS feeds. Click through to continue reading about this new social networking app
The Sony XPERIA X1 uses an interesting panel system to display content much like Zumobi for BlackBerry. The latest panel to surface on the net is the Facebook Panel. The panel has all the Facebook functionality that you need on a mobile such as the ability to write on a friend’s wall, send them a message, dial their phone number, and so on. Also of interest, the panel shows you who has recently updated their status once refreshed.
Following up on their hugely popular Facebook application for BlackBerry, RIM has now released MySpace for BlackBerry, allowing users access to one of the largest worldwide social networks. Here’s a look at some of the features:
o Share events and experiences as they happen
o Send and receive MySpace messages from practically anywhere
o Access your Friends List and view status information
o Receive automatic notifications when messages and comments arrive
o Snap a picture with your smartphone’s camera and post it to MySpace with one click
o View your friends’ photos and albums
o Let your friends know your status and mood while you’re on the go
In addition, RIM has launched a BlackBerry Community page on MySpace. It’s great to see RIM offering more consumer-focused applications, but I have one simple request: you’ve made a Facebook application, you’ve made a MySpace application, now please please make one for LinkedIn.
Facebook fans will be disappointed to know that Android does not offer an official Facebook app. I’m curious why Facebook decided to invest so much money in the iPhone and BlackBerry and they’ve given zero attention to the G1. There could be some weird politics behind the scenes. Facebook gets its advertising from Microsoft while Google serves up ads for Myspace. There could be a conflict of interest here.
So I put the question to QB readers, how important is it to you to have Facebook mobile?
Sonic Boom is an interesting company at CTIA this year. They are all about personalized mobile entertainment and are introducing a new carrier and mobile social media application. Sonic Boom is also responsible for the #1 Facebook mobile application, Tattoo Shop, which was co-promoted with AT&T.
At CTIA they announced they’ll be making their popular ToneMaker with Voice app for iPhone. The app enables subscribers to create personalized ringtones with a mobile track mixer and an exclusive library of interlocking, pre-recorded beats and music elements and then add their own voices to the mix. Check out their site for some funny examples.
BlueHaze is a San Francisco based startup that combines Facebook, an iPhone app and a web portal to help users document their favorite concerts.
BlueHaze’s iPhone app allows you to upload geotagged photos of a concert to the web portal. The web portal is a social networking site where you can find out about local concerts as well as read reviews of the show. You can purchase tickets through the site too.
