The CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association) wireless conference is held twice a year in different locations. CTIA exhibitors display the latest and greatest technologies related to wireless communication, some of which are still in the concept stage and others that are not yet released. By the time you read this, most of the items mentioned will be available—the few that aren't should be quite soon.
Many of the items mentioned in this article incorporate Bluetooth technology. In fact, you practically couldn't take three steps at CTIA without bumping into a Bluetooth accessory. Join us as we look at some of the hottest products featured there.
For more in-depth coverage of CTIA, including extensive mini-reviews of the items (with hot links to the products), visit the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine blogs (http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs) and select the tab labeled "Zaks."
Vringo: Video meets ringtones
Vringo (http://www.vringo.com) was one of the coolest concepts I saw at CTIA. The idea of "video ringtones" may seem fairly unexciting at first blush, but Vringo has implemented it in a refreshingly fun way. Vringo lets you send a short video (15 sec. max) to another phone and have it play on the phone's display when the person picks up the call. So, for example, you can record a short video of your children and have it play on your sister's cell phone the next time you call her.
The Vringo client software must be installed on each phone locally. A potential issue is call lag time; however, Vringo claims that there is no lag time between the incoming notification of the call and the playing of the video.
Vringo is currently in the midst of a private beta of their S60 application and are planning to offer a beta for Windows Mobile devices (initially for the Motorola Q and Samsung BlackJack). I have unanswered questions about memory and system resource usage that, hopefully, will be answered by the time the Windows Mobile beta is available. Stay tuned on our blogs for a more in-depth look!
SimulScribe: Voicemail reloaded
For those of us living a hectic lifestyle, this ingenious and long-overdue service will save you time and energy. SimulScribe utilizes advanced speech-to-text technology to transcribe your voicemail as it is received and send it to you as an e-mail, usually within 2-3 minutes after the caller hangs up. SimulScribe's developer claims over 90 percent accuracy, and based on my experience, I'd say that's about right. It does have a little trouble with unusual names or places, as well as non-English words. Fortunately, in addition to the transcribed message, the e-mail comes with a .WAV file attachment of the actual audio message. This .WAV file is playable on any Windows Mobile phone and most other cell phones. Should you not have a .WAV-capable handset, you can change the encoding to .mp3 in the options page on the SimulScribe Web site. Another recently implemented option that may be useful to some is the ability to send the caller an SMS text message with the transcription.
Pricing and more information can be found on SimulScribe's Web site (http://www.simulscribe.com). This Web page allows you to sign up for a personal account, and a free 7-day trial is available. Custom and corporate plans are also available on request.
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