Orange roll out ‘HD Voice’ technology in the UK, Sony shoehorn 3D technology into their laptops, and Apple make a big deal out of doin’ stuff that others have been doin’ for a while… again. This is John Bullock’s Thoughts on News for Thursday 2 September, 2010; it’s getting colder.

Orange will be the first mobile phone carrier in the UK to roll out ‘HD Voice’ technology. The tech filters out background noise to give the user a supposedly crystal clear sound. This is a good thing. When you put a little thought into it, you might wonder why it has taken this long to improve the quality of sound over the mobile phone networks, and the answer is money.

It costs money to make these advancements, usually both in the handsets and in the network itself. My thoughts, however, turn to the ridiculous situation surrounding text messages. The current system for text messages (SMS) stems from the early days of mobile phones when there was no data network. Now, however, networks are capable of sending and receiving data as well as voice, yet we are still forced to pay for text messages or get text bundles in addition to having a data bundle.

Now that the first major update to the voice side of things is rolling out, SMS will be the next to get an overhaul; though I doubt the carriers will want to part with the extra money it brings in.

Sony are launching a 3D laptop next year! No I don’t care either.

Apple, among the many- OK, I suppose I should talk about the laptop.

Sony are launching a 3D laptop next year, further cementing their position as 3D technology advocates. Personally, I can’t see the point in a 3D capable laptop just yet. The only media that might take advantage of the technology are games and movies. I owned (indeed, still do) a Blu-ray capable laptop long before I actually bought a Blu-ray player for my living room; I hardly ever watched movies on it and the few times I did, it was hooked up to my TV via the handy HDMI port. As for gaming, I’m not sure. I haven’t tried 3D gaming so I can’t say what the experience would be like on a little screen on your lap.

The aforementioned laptop that I own is a Sony Vaio, the very same model that will be receiving the 3D treatment next year. I love this laptop, but it is nearly two years old now and beginning to show signs of wear, and will probably be due for replacement before its third year. I had two options in mind; a Macbook Pro (as long as Windows can still be dualbooted by the time I buy one) or, because I have liked this laptop so much, another Sony Vaio. If Sony put 3D into a laptop that I’m considering buying as a feature that doesn’t massively effect the price, I’ll buy it. If the 3D laptops are made into ‘premium’ models that cost a fortune for the extra feature that will only ever get used as a novelty, I’ll go elsewhere.

Finally, for today, Apple. If you didn’t know (you must have been off of the grid for the last two weeks) Apple held an event yesterday. It was their yearly music event, and was expected to announce some iTunes related stuff, maybe an update to the iPod range, etc. It doesn’t take a great deal of effort find details on the announcements, so as everyone is talking about it anyway, I will limit my Apple talk to the one announcement that really caught my eye.

And they stole it from Microsoft!

If Microsoft came out with one feature/service that hooked people in recent times, it would be the game reward system in Xbox Live. I’m not saying they were the first to do it, but since they implemented it, everyone is following suit, from location based services to rival consoles. Cue Apple. iOS has long been touted (by pundits) as potentially serious rival to the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP in the portable gaming space.  With the millions of devices pouring out of the Apple stores carrying iOS and its App Store, it is not surprising that so many game developers are choosing to make games for Apples favourite platform.

The addition of a reward system that, and this important, applies to most, if not all, of your games could seal it for Apple. The devices are already a rival to PSP and well past DS in terms of graphics, and they have the touch element that is such a selling point for the DS. The only place where Apple fall is the price, but as so many people have an iOS device anyway, they may just think twice about buying a DS, and they should probably think twice about buying a PSP regardless.

That was all the news I wanted to share my thoughts on. As I’ve hinted at recently in my blog, ToN will be going five daily, so tomorrows edition will be the last one of the week. Check back then for more opinionated views on the last days news.

… I hadn’t intended that last bit to rhyme. Honest.

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