Here’s a gallery of screenshots taken off the Sony Ericssson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. It is running a nicely-customised version of Android 1.6.

Putting an event like the Smartphone Show together has had its own fair share of challenges. This is to announce that there has been a change in the date of this event. We are moving it forward by a full four weeks. Same time. Same venue.

Here are the details again:

• Saturday 23rd October, 2010
• 1.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.
• Free Registration/Admission
• Dress Code: Casual English

We are also hoping that those who had expressed regrets about not being in town on September 25th will be available on October 23rd. Let us know!

The WIN-a-smartphone promo has also been extended, so keep entering for this opportunity to smile home with a top-end smartphone or two others.

You can read through the initial announcement (now updated with the change of date) of the Smartphone Show here.

We regret the inconveniences that this shift may impose on everyone who has been looking forward to it. Let’s have fun on the new date!

I am as platform agnostic as anyone can be. I use what works for me per time and have no allegiance to any platform, as many do. Over the years, I have used devices based on as many as six (6) mobile OSes. So far, I have used:

1. 10 Symbian OS smartphones
2. 6 Windows Mobile OS smartphones
3. 2 Android OS smartphones
4. 1 Palm OS smartphone
5. 1 Maemo OS smartphone
6. 1 BlackBerry OS smartphone

While it may look like I have a preference for Symbian,that is not exactly true. I have used Symbian devices more because they have been more available in my environment. In addition, Symbian has offered more options than any other platform – QWERTY candybar, QWERTY slider, touchscreen, and regular keypad. The whole works.

I am currently on my second Android device, the Xperia X10 Mini pro from Sony Ericsson. It is a solid device and a fantastic adaptation and miniaturisation by Sony Ericsson.

Having used the device for a while, here are my thoughts about the Android OS. While the X10 Mini Pro is on version 1.6, nothing that I mention here is strange to the whole range of Android OS versions.

Android OS is an internet addict
The OS was designed ground up to crave an internet connection. To activate an Android phone requires internet access. After its up and running, it keeps you online for as long as there is a connection available. Installed freeware demand internet access, many of them being adware.

The results are too glaring – shorter battery life. And those shorter battery life is much shorter than on competitive platforms like Symbian and Windows Mobile.

Of course another consequence of this internet addiction is that your pocket is likely to be affected one way or the other. A 30-day 100MB or 150MB bundle internet plan may just not last 30 days on an Android device. If you are on a budget, you may want to think about it.

I remember that while i had the N900, I kept exhausting my data plan waaaay before its expiry date.

The browser has poor cache implementation
In a similar thread to the internet addiction is the fact that the built-in Android browser’s cache implementation is awful. Hit the back icon or button while browsing and the browser reloads the previous page afresh via the internet. For those who do not know, this is a general problem with Webkit-based browsers (at least those that I know of).

What does this translate to? More data guzzling and shorter battery life.

Is it so difficult to develop an Android screen shot app?
For all the noise about the Android market now having hundreds of thousands of apps, till today I have not come across something as basic and as useful as a screenshot application.

Screenshot apps are a kobo a dozen on Symbian and Windows Mobile, for example. Even newbie Maemo has a screenshot app – and for free too. Sigh.

Update: Belushi pointed out a screenshot app, Shootme. Typing in the name in the Market search box, I found it quickly, inspite of the fact that searching for terms like “screenshot”, “screensnap” etc didn’t yield any results.

Android is by and large a Geek platform (updated)
Just like the other Linux-based mobile OS Maemo, Android is by and large a geek platform. Many applications require the user to root his device. Rooting is not for the faint-hearted or the uninitiated. Things can go wrong easilly.

To use the screenshot app, Shootme, for example, I had to root my X10 Mini Pro. Tell that to the average Segun on the street. “Rooting”, “Permissions” et al mean nothing to them.

Honestly, many of the Market apps are crapware
I am sorry, but I am not impressed with the hullaballoo about the size of the android Market. My experience is that too many of them are crap. And believe me, it takes days to hunt through all that crap installing one problematic app after another and replacing it with another problematic alternative before finally finding one that really works well.

The rating system is there, but it doesn’t work well.

Poor Battery Life
It looks like Linux-based OSes guzzle more power than their counterparts. Think Maemo. Think Android. The entire pond is full of poor battery life tales. Yes; the touchscreens do contribute (as a matter of fact as much as 50% of battery consumption is from the touchscreen on the average Android device).

Consider that while Blackberry devices have been reputed for good battery life, the new 9800 Torch has been reported as having less than stellar battery life. The touchscreen is the primary suspect here again.

I wonder what it would be like were some manufacturer to experiment with a non-touchscreen Android device.

Conclusions
Does this mean that Android OS is crap and should be thrown out the windows? Not by a long shot.

I enjoyed the Android G1 while I had it, and I have enjoyed the X10 Mini Pro so far. But do bear in mind that, just like every other mobile OS, the Android OS has its quirks and disadvantages.

The Nation reports that GloMobile has launched a special tariff plan for subscribers in the South-South region. According to the news report, the new package is called Glo Infinito and “offers the best ever call rates in Nigeria. With just 25 kobo per second for all calls to any network in Nigeria without any rental or access fee.

“The package also offers free midnight calls from 12midnight to 5a.m. and a bonus of between 10% and 20% for every recharge with N500 and above.”

To activate Glo Infinito, dial *103*1*1#.

Read the full report from The Nation: Glo woos subscribers with new package.

Thanks to Kay123 for the heads-up.

In August 2010, mobile web traffic went up as a whole, but touchscreen and QWERTY device usage dropped, smartphone usage dropped, and regular phones did better this time.

BlackBerry also dropped out of the Top 5 devices chart. Inspite of the general Nokia bashing, Nokia phones had a stronger showing.

Overview

• 24% mobile of MobilityNigeria’s traffic in August 2010 was from mobile devices
• An average of 450 mobile pageviews per day
• 354 devices on 329 networks from 104 countries accessed Mobility Nigeria in August 2010
• 40.2% of devices are wi-fi enabled
• 24.2% are QWERTY phones
• 17.1% are touchscreen phones
• 28.4% are smartphones

Top 5 Phones
Nokia totally dominates this chart and the Nokia 5800 is still undisputed king.

1. Nokia 5800 – 5.2%
2. Nokia E63 – 4.6%
3. Nokia 3110 Classic – 4.3%
4. Nokia 5230 – 3.4%
5. Nokia E71 – 2.9%

Top 5 Brands
Nokia’s dominance is still strong. Short of amazing.

1. Nokia – 56.4%
2. BlackBerry – 8.7%
3. Sony Ericsson – 6.9%
4. Samsung – 5.1%
5. Apple – 4.2%

Top 5 Operating Systems

1. Symbian – 28.4%
2. Series 40 – 22.8%
3. BlackBerry – 8.7%
4. iOS – 4.2%
5. Windows Mobile – 2.4%

Top 5 Networks
Here, Glo’s new bundle plans seem to be yielding results, as Glo jumped up tremendously from position number 4 to take the 2nd spot on the mobile internet usage scene. However, Etisalat still has a strong showing at number one.

1. Etisalat Nigeria – 28.6%
2. Glo Nigeria – 12.4%
3. Zain Nigeria – 12.2%
4. MTN Nigeria – 10.5%
5. Airtel India – 2.2%

Top 5 Countries

1. Nigeria – 64.4%
2. India – 7.8%
3. USA – 4.6%
4. UK – 2.4%
5. South Africa – 1.4%

New Update!!

Top 5 handsets for top 5 Countries

Nigeria:

1. Nokia E63 – 6.2%
2. Nokia 5800 – 5.7%
3. Nokia 3110 Classic – 4.2%
4. Nokia 5320 – 3.9%
5. Nokia E71 – 3.8%

India:

1. Nokia 3110 Classic – 13.0%
2. Nokia 5130 Classic – 6.0%
3. Samsung C3212 – 6.0%
4. Nokia 2700 Classic – 6.0%
5. Nokia 7210 Supernova – 4.0%

USA: Blackberry rules! 30.6% of mobile traffic from the USA

1. Blackberry 9000 – 10.6%
2. Blackberry 9700 – 7.8%
3. Blackberry 9630 – 6.5%
4. Blackberry 9550 – 5.7%
5. SonyEricsson K770 – 4.7%

UK: Blackberry rules supreme, with 0ver 75% of the total mobile traffic from the UK

1. Blackberry 9700 – 23.2%
2. Blackberry 8520 – 20.2%
3. Blackberry 8900 – 13.3%
4. Blackberry 9500 – 10.8%
5. Blackberry 9000 – 8.4%

South Africa:

1. Blackberry 9520 – 10.8%
2. Blackberry 8520 – 8.1%
3. Nokia 5800 – 7.2%
4. Blackberry 9700 – 6.3%
5. Nokia E90 – 4.5%

Don’t forget, this is all MobilityNigeria.com traffic only.

Zain Kenya, now owned by Bharti, has rattled Safaricom with swinging price cuts, triggering unprecedented movement in the Kenyan mobile market. Safaricom has countered this, with its latest move being to slash the cost of SMS messages for its prepaid customers by as much as 94%. Ultimately, when all the noise calms down, Kenyan consumers will be the winners but Safaricom may have to give up a chunk of its eye-catching profits and market share.

In Kenya, terms and conditions matter

Judging by the announcements of price cuts emanating from Kenya, Bharti – the new owner of Zain Africa – has set its sights on challenging Safaricom, Kenya’s leading player. Buoyed by a regulatory push by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) for operators to reduce interconnection rates, Bharti unleashed the first weapon in its arsenal in August 2010, reducing the price for all voice calls to KES3 per minute with no terms and conditions attached.

The emphasis on terms and conditions is particularly noteworthy. Even when Safaricom tries to counter Zain’s offer, its tariffs are laden with terms and conditions, lending more credence to Zain’s message that its offer is permanent and not a promotion. The public response has been has been positive, with queues forming in Zain’s shops. The latest SMS price reductions this week, in anticipation of the CCK’s demand for a lower wholesale data charge by November 2010, are evidence that Safaricom is increasing its counter attacks on Zain.
Ultimately, price competition is hazardous to all market players

While Safaricom has fat margins to fall back on, the cutthroat price reductions are likely to impact all market players – Safaricom, Zain, Orange, and Essar – negatively. In India, where a similar price war has ensued, Ovum has shown that the profitability of all market players has suffered.There is an even more telling corollary: Vodafone, which owns a 40% controlling stake in Safaricom, took a £2.3 billion impairment charge in India in May 2010, largely due to the effects of the price war.

But the price war is good news for customers, who can now look forward to cheaper calls and SMS messages in Kenya. A price war over data will definitely come soon, and even Safaricom’s highly successful money transfer scheme, M-Pesa, is not out of bounds. In fact, the telecoms price war has already forced down Kenya’s official inflation rate for August 2010. In a market where telecoms take a chunk of the consumer’s wallet, savings from telecoms can make a difference to overall economic wellbeing. Cheaper prices could also encourage Kenyans to talk more, potentially boosting minutes of use (MoU). Average MoU in Kenya (and much of Africa) are around 50 minutes per month, while in India they are around 300.

For Safaricom, the era of 80% market share looks to be over
In Safaricom the mobile industry has a textbook case study of how to achieve staggering competitive advantage in a market. Safaricom has grown its market share from less than 40% in 2000 to slightly over 80% at the end of June 2010 – a feat that is uncommon in liberalised markets. In doing so, it bulldozed its rivals – especially Zain – into submission, became the largest quoted company in East Africa, and returned billions in earnings to its shareholders.

In contrast, Zain’s operation in Kenya was perilously underperforming and was one of the standout concerns for Zain’s Middle East owners. Its market share has fallen from over 60% in 2000 to 9.4% in 2Q10 – Essar, which only launched services in 4Q08, had a 7.4% share by 2Q10. Between 2000 and 2010, a plethora of ownership changes, with the associated change of names from Kencell to Celtel to Zain, seem to have distracted the business from being able to challenge Safaricom. Bharti now has lots to do to try to reverse nearly a decade of Zain’s poor performance in Kenya.

---

ABOUT OVUM:
Ovum provides clients with independent and objective analysis that enables them to make better business and technology decisions. Our research draws upon over 400,000 interviews a year with business and technology, telecoms and sourcing decision-makers, giving Ovum and our clients unparalleled insight not only into business requirements but also the technology that organisations must support. Ovum is part of the Datamonitor group.

Reviewing the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro has been fun, but it has brought up again a consistent annoyance of touchscreen devices.

From the Samsung Jet to the HTC Touch Pro2 and others to this petite powerhorse, the usability of touchscreen devices suffer from this thing.

If you have used a touchscreen device at some point, you should be able to identify with a situation in which you want to scroll through a contact list but the screen registers your effort as a tap. Next thing you know, you’re dialling out.

There are times that I have had to repeat the attempt a couple of times – yes, frustrating – before succeeding in scrolling to the contact or conversation or spot on a webpage that I want.

Ironically, capacitive displays are the worst culprits because of their greater sensitivity.

This kind of hindrance to usability is one reason why I continue to prefer non-touch devices. The scenarios presented above simply NEVER happen with non-touch devices.

A good solution to this problem would be for hardware direction keys to be included on touchscreen devices. But there are those who say that would spoil the looks of those devices. Pure touchscreen slabs are just sexy, we are told.

Well, you give me a slab anyday, but please get rid of the touchscreen.

It has been fun watching the bets stack high as a result of my earlier tip of an impending drop in mobile internet tariffs by a GSM operator.

Well, it is official now. The wait is over. The bets are won and lost. And the network is…. MTN!

Yup, the Y’hello guys have surprised so many of you and gone ahead to drop mobile internet tariffs to as low as 5k per kb outside of bundle plans. That’s one-third the prevailing tariffs.

You heard that right. But that is all I am permitted to publish now. In the next few hours, MTN will go public with the information and I can give you more details.

In the meantime, we will announce the winner and ask him/her to name a network of choice so we can send the airtime that we promised.

Also, you can expect other networks to start adjusting too. Smile everyone.

Update (8.35 a.m., September 16, 2010)
I have it on good authority from a reliable source that the management of MTN has put off the announcement temporarilly. I am assured that the announcement will be made though. Well, at least now you all know which network it is.

Consumers living in emerging markets are paying up to three times more for broadband than their mature market counterparts, according to Ovum.

Research by the independent telecoms analyst into broadband in 15 emerging markets revealed that emerging consumers are paying far more on average than the rest of the world, despite earning the lowest wages.

Angel Dobardziev, an Ovum practice leader and author of the report on broadband pricing in emerging markets*, said: “The cost of broadband in some emerging countries is three times as high as in mature markets, which when coupled with low wages, makes it an unaffordable luxury for all except a small group at the top of the socio-economic pyramid.

“The striking difference in broadband prices in mature and emerging markets means there is a huge divide in terms of uptake of services.”

Nigeria’s broadband tariffs were among the most expensive of those sampled by Ovum, with the annual cost of some services reaching more than $2,000 per year, despite the country having a low GDP per capita at $1,170.

South Africa had the highest broadband prices of all the countries sampled. The annual cost of some services was found to be more than $5,000, against a GDP of $5,820 per year.

Angel adds: “The key to making broadband more affordable for emerging markets will be an increase in supply and competition, which is currently modest in most markets and non existent outside the key urban areas.

“However, many markets will require concerted regulatory and policy efforts to increase competition and supply and bring affordability within reach of the mass consumer market. As yet it is unclear how quickly this will happen.”

---

ABOUT OVUM
Ovum provides clients with independent and objective analysis that enables them to make better business and technology decisions. Our research draws upon over 400,000 interviews a year with business and technology, telecoms and sourcing decision-makers, giving Ovum and our clients unparalleled insight not only into business requirements but also the technology that organisations must support. Ovum is part of the Datamonitor group.

I have owned and used tons of mobile phones over the last several years. At the last count, the tally stood at 51. Those who have followed me know that my best devices have almost always been those equipped with a hardware QWERTY keyboard.

In this feature article, I present you a photo shootout comparing the sizes of three of those devices, plus a few thoughts. The devices we are comparing are:

1. Nokia E61i – purchased in July 2007
2. Nokia E90 – purchased in October 2008
3. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro – my current device purchased this month

You can click each image for a larger 1152 x 864 pixel full image. The devices appear in the pictures from left to right as follows: E90, E61i, X10 Mini Pro.

Over the years, the level of miniaturisation of smartphones and QWERTY keyboards have been amazing.

For example, packing into a device of the size of the X10 Mini Pro more functionality than either of the older devices like the E61i and E90 is stunning.

Straying a bit, I haven’t handled an E61i in about two (2) years, and I was surprised at how good the keyboard is. Of course, it is a wider device than the current crop of E-series candybars – E71, E72, and the E5, and that gives it larger, more comfortable keys too. The display is also larger, making it quite good for reading, web browsing and watching videos.

I found myself wishing that some manufacturer would put at least a 600 MHz processor, 256mb RAM, an improved operating system, and a 5 megapixel camera in that sort of casing today. That would be sweet.

I still have fond memories of the E90, and if anyone put a 1GHz CPU, 256 mb RAM, an improved operating system, and a 5 megapixel camera in that casing, I’d probably buy it up in a snap.

Lastly, and interestingly, while regular keypad devices and QWERTY devices are looking to squeeze as much as possible into smaller sizes, the touchscreen world is heading in the very opposite direction where it appears that the slogan is bigger is better.

It is certainly a crazy world that we live in.

Apple’s special event for its music line of products has come and gone. It is a yearly September event for Apple that has dated back to at least 6 years. I believe it is expedient that we have at least a glimpse of it here at Mobility Nigeria. Apart from the iPod line of products that was announced, iOS 4.1 update was also mentioned during the event. iOS is the operating system that runs on both the iPhone and iPad. The iPad 3G has an integrated gsm/3G radio and would be out by next week and November respectively. The 4.1 update will fix the proximity issue with the iPhone 4 and also the sluggish performance of the iPhone 3G.

The major updates and announcement could be summarized into about 5 areas of revamp in their product line.

1. iPod Touch
This has definitely undergone a major revision. The Wi-Fi antenna is still internal, so do not expect that antennagate issue that has plagued its higher sibling, the iphone 4. The revamp includes most of the key features of the iphone 4, including the front and back facing cameras and support for Apple’s facetime video chat technology. This fourth generation iPod Touch also boasts of the Retina display technology of the iPhone 4 and slimmer body line. The back camera has HD video recording and the processor powering it is the same A4 (1 Gigahertz CPU) processor that is also used in iPhone 4 and iPad. It is going to be available this week at $229, $299 and $399 for the 8GB, 32GB and 64GB respectively.

2. iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle


These also underwent a revamp. Images of these two product lines are as above.

3. iOS 4.1 and 4.2 details
iOS 4.1 now introduces a new feature called GAMECENTRE. It is both an app on the iphone as well as a set of APIs for developers to implement more efficiently multi-player games into the iphone/ipod touch. One could just easily challenge a fellow ios 4.1 user to a game for instance thus making the iPod Touch or iPhone a powerful gaming device.

Other new features in iOS 4.1 include high dynamic range (HDR) photos, uploading full HD videos over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals, and a handful of major bug fixes. High dynamic range photos are 3 photos shot in rapid succession with different exposure ranges, which are then combined into one photo thus ensuring the widest color and exposure range possible. A number of bugs have also been addressed in iOS 4.1. The proximity sensor issue for instance has been fixed with the iPhone 4 as well as problems with Bluetooth connectivity and audio quality. In addition, the iOS 4.1 update should improve sluggish performance on older iPhone 3G models.

iOS 4.2 will be available for the iPad in November. iOS 4.1 features like Game Center and HDR photos will come to the iPad (although it doesn’t have a camera), as well as AirPlay and wireless printing.

Both the iOS 4.1 and 4.2 updates will be free to owners of iOS devices.

4. iTunes 10 and Ping
iTunes is Apple’s media management and jukebox software. Apart from general bug fixes and improvement of the UI, iTunes 10 now also fetures ping. Ping was described by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs as “Facebook and Twitter meets itunes”. It is a social network for music and lets iTunes users follow their favourite artistes or each other. Viewers can also see what others are buying or each other’s playlists and impressions from artists.

I should be able to give a hands-on review on ping soon because I have registered in the Social media. My opinion is more of positive than indifference!

5. Apple TV

This is still a “hobby” for Apple. There was a major change here with the full removal of hard disc storage . You can use this to stream media from the internet to your TV. With Google TV also in place, this is a direct fight for your living room!

Conclusion
If you ask me, I should say that this is a good revamp of far reaching products from Apple. The iPod Touch 4th generation will be difficult to ignore, especially if you liked the iPhone 4 but cannot afford it on account of cost.

As an upcoming e-entrepreneur and a mobile technology ethusiast, emails are very important to me meaning I have to access my mailbox often but having to go online every one and then to check multiple email accounts was not not exactly funny. I tried using the default email client on my Nokia E61 but that did not deliver true push email. I considered getting a BlackBerry but that did not fit into my budget at that time, so that led me to search for a push email client that could deliver true push email to me. After searching and trying several others, I found Seven.

Seven is a free push email client that delivers push email to your mobile device. It cuts across platforms, including but not limited to Symbian, Java, Android, and Windows Mobile. In addition, it integrates very well with the default email client of mobile devices on which it is supported.

With Seven, you can access multiple email accounts from the same providers and accounts based on Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Notes. It also enables you to sync your folders, calendars and contacts.

The key thing for me about Seven is it’s simplicity and efficiency and even though it’s free, it’s not lacking in feautures. All you need is your user name and password and you are up and running in a couple of minutes. However, a note of caution: when adding email accounts, be sure to alter your message center number as the application sends a message to an international number.

If you are concerned about security, Seven uses high end-to-end encyption so only you can read your message. And so that emails don’t interupt your private life, it’s also possible for you to determine the periods during which Seven pushes emails to you. It is also possible to pause it altogether.

Seven requires an always-on internet connection but the good thing is that it’s not bandwidth hungry.

I have being using Seven for seven months now and I have had no complaints. I would gladly recommend it to any smartphone user who desires true push email functionality as an alternative to BlackBerry.

With Seven who needs a BlackBerry? With proper marketing and publicity, Seven can stand eyeball to eyeball with BlackBerry’s push mail. Your comments and questions are welcome.