Getting your story out has never been easier. Mobile devices are not just a way of talking to your friends and colleagues, but using the powerful tools on your mobile device you can take pictures, record video and conversations, which by using tools available on the internet, you can spread to the entire world. The tools available on the internet have dramatically changed the way professional media persons report and research stories. You cannot imagine a story done research stories. You cannot imagine a story done without some basic research being done on Google or not using Wikipedia as a reference tool. WHILE that is the way ‘traditional’ reporters work, the emergence of the internet, rather the second generation of web-enabled services on the internet, something popularly called Web2.0, has made it possible for everyone to post their stories for the world to see. Zeiss lenses allowing you to take high-resolution images and broadcast-quality video as well as the ability to record hours of sound, make N-series devices the perfect tool for the Citizen Journalist.
Music is the most fascinating thing on a mobile phone. It is likely that you and many of your friends store copious amounts of music on their phone and if you travel by Mumbai or Chennai’s suburban trains of Delhi or Kolkata’s metro systems you might see hundreds of people with their ears plugged in listening to FM radio, but equally as likely listening to music stored on their mobile devices. But there is a problem. Downloading music is not terribly easy. You often have to visit a multitude of sites and often end up with an illegal and often a horrible sounding copy of a song you really like. While you can use Nokia music manager from PC suite to transfer tracks from your computer to the device, what would you do if you are on the road and want to listen to one song? Well, in a few months time you will be able to download and listen to music directly onto your mobile phone thanks to the upcoming Nokia Music Store.
The growing popularity of the format has led to more devices entering the market with the capability to receive DVB-H signals, so in addition too their innovative ‘geo-tagging’ feature, the N96 out later this year will available such as the Nokia SU-33W (not available in India) which connects to the N73 device via Bluetooth allowing it to receive DVB-H signals. But you must be saying,’Ah, but it will be a fad and only eight channels are available broadcasters such as Star, Sony and Zee have been saying, they are all interested in moving onto the mobile TV bandwagon. And here DVB-H offers broadcasters something unique, because like your set-top box, every single mobile device is ‘addressable’. This means that you, the user, can choose to watch the channels you would want to watch and subscribe too individually, however a payment system will need to be devised for mobile TV.
Interestingly because DVB-H is on your mobile device, if operators and broadcasters worked together it is possible to develop all sorts of interesting applications, such as live tele-voting as happens on several reality TV shows. As of now, only residents of New Delhi, more specifically a ten-kilometer radius around DD’s TV antenna in Central Delhi can receive TV signals using DVB-H and this has been possible for over a year. It is likely, particularly with the introduction if new handsets as we mentioned this project might go nation wide in the near future. And then, watching TV on your mobile device might become as natural as taking pictures on your mobile device, and you might end up watching it at home, because, hey it is your phone-you won’t have to fight for the remote!