The future of Mobile technology or rather the future of human kind, proposing to change the way we look at things and at the world at large is this technology named augmented reality. Now your third eye would become your unsuspected mobile phone which would serve as a Kaleidoscope of myriad real time information beyond the possibilities of vision.

Gone are the days when you would tediously scout for information on a search engine using your mobile. Now is the beginning of the AR era, the mantra of the mobile world and an amrit for users of high technology. The concept of augmented reality has its roots in Astrophysics which evolved into virtual reality and now with a merger with real time experience is augmented reality of the current day.

It is real time experience enhanced by the virtual world. A simple day to day example of AR is the boundary line used in American football. This boundary line looks like a ray of light, which is actually a computer generated line which aids decisions on fouls and penalties, with its statistics and info on every movement across the line. This has become an inherent part of football that Fans can’t do away with.

AR has become more active in the mobile sphere because mobility is the essence of augmented reality. The recent past has seen three applications of augmented reality available with the Apple i-phone 3GS.The Applications available in the i-tunes store are the London bus application and Paris subway application. In both these API’s when you point your video cam in the direction of a building, say at its roof top restaurant, for instance. It would display details and specifications that the building was built by a czar in the 1930’s and the restaurant serves Mediterranean food. If we point it across a street say, then it would display the directions and the nearby shopping malls and restaurants and so on.
Click here to watch the youtube video for AR

The built in compass, Global positioning system and video cam make it possible for augmented reality along with the Wikis and real-time social media. The cost free API for Apple Iphone 3GS is a surprise Easter egg to users. It was found that shaking the phone thrice would reveal a Yelp’s monocle and Abracadabra; this leads you to the augmented reality application. This API is also similar to the other two except that you got to hold the camera very still to get the real experience.

We have spoken so much on iphone now lets explore as to what Google and Nokia are upto in the AR market. Nokia’s research centre is all boastful of their MARA, the mobile augmented reality application. When all that iphone would do is show the specifications of the restaurant but Nokia will be able to give the reservation and vacancy status of the restaurant.

Google’s Android is not far behind, they are ready with the Wikitude AR travel guide developed by Mobilizy with location based Wikipedia and Qype content. This comes in handy while planning a trip as it can recall 3, 50,000 world points with a list view, map view and augmented reality view.

Layar, the augmented reality browser could be very intrusive, because the same GPS, cam, web and compass would be able to locate you and provide information on your environment. A recent news article read that the same technology has annoyed none other than Hollywood celebrity Brad Pitt, when he was spied on his whereabouts.

The ongoing debate in the future of mobile technology is whether the content for augmented reality should be user driven or developer driven. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. User driven content will fall short in accuracy while developer driven content will fall short in interactivity, fun and thus popularity.

AR could tackle either routes, but as predicted by some technology experts it should take the user route along with content filters. Whatever the future of AR, we in India have to wait for 3G, hoping we don’t get outdated. With 3G on its way and M-Governance being discussed, augmented reality will reach only the elite few whilst the Nation is struggling to get good bandwidth for internet connections and a good mobile connectivity range for its mobile phones.

The world is at your feet. Oops…No, its right within the clutch of your hands, rather your hand phone. Call it mobile, cell phone..whatever..you are at liberty to come up with a name for it. It is more like your pet dog, these days, always by your side, getting incessantly pampered.

From a humble beginning, as a device that enables communication on the move, mobile phones have come a long way. Take a snap of the sun setting down at dusk as you retreat home from a long day’s work. Flaunt it in Orkut and Facebook for others to sing paeans about you skills in photography. Ah! Those Nikons and Canons are in grave danger. You could turn out to be India’s next ‘Night Shyamalan’ with companies like Nokia organizing contests on a global level for the best short movies shot using mobile. Plug those earphones and loose control! Got lost? Nah…! navigators are not only for high seas, there is GPS to guide you at every step. Download and get drowned in those sea of applications. Skip office and send a mail, call out loud and your pal is on the call. If you still feel short, there is always bluetooth.

So many features and numerous applications neatly tucked into that little gadget of yours. A bouquet of benefits bundled together with uncanny knack.

Now comes the million dollar question. How do I pick one to suit my liking? Isn’t it like finding a needle in a hay stack? Well, this is what is called – ‘A problem of plenty’. You may need to answer some tough questions like, what kind of phone do you need? What is your budget? What is the need to buy a mobile? What to look for when I buy a mobile?

Purpose

Make yourself clear about the intention behind buying a mobile. What purpose do you want it to serve. Is it just for making a call? Do you need other features apart from the basic ones? If so, what a re you looking for?

Features

There are so many features and you need to analyze aspects pertaining to each of them.

Usability
Most countries run on GSM 900 and 1800. Countries in the USA run on GSM 1900 and mostly network providers in India also support these. Most phones from the past could accept only one band. But, nowadays, most of the phone are tri-band compatible. It means that, you can actually use your mobile phone in other countries, without changing or renting another phone. Therefore, when you purchase a phone, you should get a tri-band phone if you are the type you refuses to be in a country at a time.

Screen size, pixel and color screens:
Definitely, a bigger LCD screen size for the mobile phone is a plus, but you have to look at the size and the weight of the mobile phone as well. Screens with smaller resolutions or bigger pixels make texts and graphics are wee bit difficult to read. It is better off to get LCD screens. As always, LCD TFT screens are better than normal passive LCD screens. Some phones also offer touch screen display.

The more colors in the display, the more vibrant it is. Most color screened mobiles are capable of displaying 16 bit of colors (65,536 colors). Therefore, it is better off to get a 16 bit color capable mobile phone. They are able to display the graphics more vividly.

Camera: Do you want a camera phone? It could save you the strain of carrying a digital camera next time you go on holiday. I f so how many ‘million picture elements’ or in short mega pixels should it have? Is there option to zoom and if yes, is it digital or optical zoom? Does it come with flash? What about video recording facility ? How is the clarity? Low priced camera phones which come with VGA camera that cost less but do not offer great clarity to those Nokia N95 with the 5 mega pixel Carl Zeiss lens that cost up to 500 $ are available in the market.

Camera resolution
Printing a good quality photo on a 4″ x 6″ paper requires at least a 2 mega pixel camera phone. Higher resolution is usually better for producing more detailed photos. VGA (640×480) quality will not be good enough for photo quality prints. 1.3 mega pixel cameras may sometimes produce an acceptable quality, but many times it won’t be the case.

Zoom: Optical zoom is the same in digital cameras as they are in film cameras. Fine optics are used to magnify objects with little or no effect to the image quality. Digital zoom, on the other hand, refers to a camera software function, which magnifies objects by adding pixels into the area being zoomed in on, and by doing so, deteriorates the image quality making it appear blurred. Also look out for features like auto focus, image stabilizer.

PictBridge
PictBridge is a standard way for digital cameras to print photos by directly connecting to a printer using an USB cable. This is still a relatively new feature on cell phones.

Video Recording

Certain cell phones have the ability to function as a mini camcorder, taking short live-action video that can be saved or sent to other people. The length of video capture varies by phone, but the trend has been for increasing length of video recording. Some of these phones even offer users the ability to watch TV. The factors to watch out for include the resolution of the videos that will determine their clarity. Check out for the formats in which video recording happens.

Memory Card

Standard memory on a typical cell phone does not have a large memory capacity to store many photos and songs. Make sure that your phone supports memory Cards that serve the purpose of added storage space. Memory cards come in many formats, e.g. microSD, miniSD, memory stick, etc. Check which memory card type your phone supports, so you can purchase the right one. The number of photos that a memory card can store depends on the capacity of the card and the photo resolution.

As a very rough guide, on a 2 megapixel camera, a 512MB card may store approximately 1000 photos. At the highest resolution, 3 mega pixel camera supports around 400, 4 mega pixel around 240 pictures and 5 mega pixel around 190 pictures .

A camera phone that enables removable memory cards will allow for quick printing to a photo printer with a built-in memory card reader. Check for the maximum capacity of memory card that will be supported by your mobile, keeping in mind your future needs.

Music player

Everyone with a mobile seems oblivious in their own world. Guess why? Music. They have come to become an essential an inseparable part of modern day mobiles. Here you should look out for the formats supported by the mobile phone. Also check out if the Radio option is available. This feature is present even in low end cell phones.

Weight, size and exterior layout:
It is better off choosing a lighter mobile than a heavier one. The lighter ones range around100 grams and below. However, a heavier mobile is generally feature-rich. They have add-ons like the MP3 player, the FM radio, the digital camera and other applications. They can be as heavy as up to 200 grams nowadays. But it totally depends what features you would like.

The keypad of the mobile phone is important. It is better off looking at the mobile phone buttons, to check whether your hands would fit comfortably.

Connectivity

There are plenty of ways to connect your mobile phone to a PC or another mobile phone for data exchange. Features such as memory cards, infrared, Bluetooth and USB allows data exchange. Mobile phones with such capability are far flexible, as you can compose your own mobile phone ring tones, backing up your contact lists, personalizing your mobile phone and so on.

Polyphonic and monotone ring tones:

Polyphonic ring tones enable the phone to read MIDI files as the mobile phone’s ring tones. It is far better than monotone ring tones, as it is richer and more vibrant, sound wise. It makes the mobile phone stand out in the crowd and avoids confusion, since the ring tone is unique.

Budget

Last but not least, in fact, one of the most important things to keep in mind is the budget. Don’t overshoot your limit by seeing the various models once you reach the showroom. Check out the price range of the mobiles that have the features you wish and settle for one that fits comfortably on your pocket. You can check the rates in the websites of the mobile dealers.

Its a jungle out there. So make your choice wisely.

Lifestyle

Your mobile is also your style statement. They are a component of your personality, an attribute of our dimensions, so make sure you get it right, you are displaying a part of you out there. Having said all this, don’t get obsessed with mobiles. They are just another modern technological innovation that add to our comforts. Make the best use of them without getting stuck to them.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and grab that dream mobile of yours. Soak in the glory and sing in pride. May the gizmo geek in you live happily ever after!

- Harbinger

If you wish gadgets were your Christmas gifts then Steve Jobs is certainly your Santa Claus. Only that your Christmas has arrived early by almost six months. Twice as faster and half the cost. That’s Job’s word on the new apple christened ‘iPhone 3G’. Given the buzz this device has generated in the last couple of years, it would be a miracle if you had missed out on hearing about this.

iPhone, for starters, was so cool that it was named Time magazine’s Invention of the Year 2007. It is an Internet-enabled multimedia mobile phone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is touted as a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod and a breakthrough Internet device, all steamrolled into one. They have multi-touch screens with virtual keyboards and buttons, but a minimal amount of hardware input.

iPhone 1.0, which is now history was launched in June 2007. The specs of the 11.6 millimeter device include a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a proximity sensor to turn off the screen when it’s close to your face, 2 megapixel cam, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and A2DP, WiFi that automatically engages when in range, and quad-band GSM radio with EDGE. It had one of the largest and highest-resolution screen of any smart phone and a huge internal memory. Yet it is one of the thinnest smart phones and has a impressive battery life, better than its key competitors claim.

To navigate, a user uses multiple taps and drags to navigate through a mobile version of Apple’s OS X operating system. Like iPod, iPhone synchronizes data with a user’s personal computer, using iTunes as a client software and Apple’s proprietary USB port. iPhone is compatible with Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, including Vista. It was priced at $599 for the 8 GB version and $499 for the 4 GB sibling.

So what’s new about iPhone 2.0 or iPhone 3G?

Faster and cheaper is the claim. The difference between iPhone 1.0 and the new babs is chalk and cheese when it comes to Internet access. The original iPhones operate on so-called 2.5G networks. The upgrade in performance from those networks to 3G will be similar to the difference between a dial-up Internet connection and a high-speed broadband connection. 3G refers to the networking technology used by your mobile phone carrier to connect your handset to the world. A 3G phone is capable of 1.8 MB/s (Mega Bytes per second) download speeds.

Enterprise support

iPhone will support the Microsoft Exchange server. That means you’ll be able to get push e-mail, contacts, and calendar. This is a big plus for corporate users who have iPhones but have had to carry another device (like a BlackBerry) to access their work e-mail. Other new features will include auto-discovery, global contacts access, and remote wipe.

GPS

Maps with GPS means you will never be lost again. Find your location, get directions, and see traffic — all from your phone. Maps on iPhone 3G combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower location technology with the Multi-Touch interface to create a handy mobile map application.

Apps

There is the addition of new applications in the latest version to enable access to the iPhone apps store, which is set to open in early July. The new applications range from games to business, education to entertainment, finance to health and fitness, productivity to social networking Download them wirelessly and enjoy them on the move.

Searching contacts gets easier, you can read documents and power point but not edit them, option to bulk delete and move the mails , facility to save photos sent as e-mail attachments, a scientific calculator and a host of supported languages.

So how easy will the new one be on the pocket? An 8 gigabyte model is to sell for $199 starting July 11. A 16 gigabyte model will cost $299. They will come in a black case with a white case optional on one model. The devices are to roll out initially in 22 countries.

What’s lacking ?

MMS and video recording are conspicuous by their absence. Those features are made available on even the simplest phones. You can’t use it for connecting your notebook to the Internet via the mobile data network. Voice dialing is not there and that’s another sore point. The camera remains at a lowly 2 mega pixels which seems to be the bare minimum for mobile phones. Replaceable battery is also not available.

Given the new features that have been introduced and above all the low price tag, iPhone is quite likely to cause a stir in the time to come. Steve Jobs has only ignited the frenzy. This ‘i’ is sure to catch many an eye. Are you already itching to have it on your sweaty palms?

- Harbinger