Wireless access gets mobile

If you haven't been riding the lightning speed wave of technological advances in the past few years, you might still be adapting to the idea of wireless browsing and perhaps rise an eyebrow every time you see a group of tech savvy individuals absorbed by their wi-fi enabled notebooks. However the new Face off the Web report will let you know that even that is pretty far from where the bleeding edge is nowadays. In their recent research, Ipsos has found that the wireless browsing market is slowly overtaken by the new generations of intelligent mobile phones that threaten to overtake the wireless access share from regular notebook PCs.

Great Nokia N96 features

• Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• HSDPA and Wi-Fi access
• DVB-H Mobile TV
• A-GPS Navigation using Nokia Maps
• Instant upload to Flickr, Vox, Yahoo! and Google
• Full xHTML, HTML, RSS reader browser
• 16 GB of internal flash memory
• 5-megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss TESSAR optics
• Sensor for Auto-rotate
• VGA camera in front of the phone, for video calling and self-portrait use
• Plays music files, and lets you download easily via Nokia Web
• Allows high-quality video calling using 3G
• Can play various type of Music files
• Can play various type of Video files

What is interesting to note is that households with mobile phone access that have also sent or received a text message barely reach the 55% mark, and that while this is a very important percentage, this is also one of the most basic services new mobile phones have to offer. So, even when the mobile phone market is itself divided in its customer base, we can also see a very large group of people using their T-mobile phone or their iPhone to access the internet with increasing ease and speed. But of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg. We are currently experiencing an expansion of entertainment venues that corresponds with a search for a state of continual leisure. To continue with the last example, consider that anyone with minimal knowledge can pop open his N96 while on the train or waiting in line and start watching some on-line TV or perhaps upload some pictures to his Flickr account, not to mention the usual music and video reproduction features that are the staple of these devices nowadays.

More and more ideas and applications are being developed for the a framework based on wireless browsing. Even though the business and entertainment areas are the most publicized, several studies are being conducted to see what kind of productivity increases can be brought to the table by these technologies when applied to education. Cornell University researchers were recently looking into these applications with a local study that involved students from several departments of said university. The results are still inconclusive, but there is a strong inclination to think that with the proper application of the technology along with an interactive style for lectures that emphasizes on collaboration and group work, the results could be remarkable. One thing is for certain, on the years to come we should expect to see an increase in connectivity possibilities along with more entertainment venues and new options for more flexibility in communications.