Motorola’s Multiple Screen Display To Improve User Experience

Is watching a video on your tiny smartphone screen not good enough? Are your fingers too big to type on your smartphone touchscreen? Don’t worry, Motorola may have just heard you. According to a patent application filed by the company, you may be able to make your viewing screen bigger by simply placing your Motorola handsets beside one another.

In the filing, the inventors describe a technology whereby the display of several handsets may be configured to act like one to run applications such as streaming a video while maintaining the same aspect ratio. The inventors write

“A device comprises a display arrangement which includes a plurality of displays that are movable relative to each other such that a plurality of display configurations can be achieved. Each of the display configurations provides a combined display area which is different for at least two of the display configurations. An application processor is operable to execute a plurality of user applications, each of which can provide a display output. A display driver is arranged to generate an arrangement of display output for the display arrangement from the display output of an application being executed. The display driver sets a display characteristic for the arrangement of display output in response to a characteristic of the executed application and the deployed display configuration.”

Looks like an iBoard and iMat killer is not too far away!

Price Of Motorola CLIQ XT, Nokia Nuron, HTC HD2 Revealed?

Sources close to TmoNews have revealed the prices of the T-Mobile based handsets which get launched later this year. According to the source, Motorola CLIQ XT will launch at a price of $129.99 with a 2 year contract. Without the T-Mobile contract, you can get hold of the device for $329.99.

Nokia Nuron will retail at $69.99 with contract and $179.99 without one. Similarly, HTC HD2 will come at a subsidized price of $199.99 with the 2 year contract and at $449.99 without one.

We guess the phones have been priced at a pretty attractive level. What do you think? Which one are you going for?

[via TmoNews]

Motorola Gets Into Social Networking?

Blackberry users have been offered the ability to chat and share files with other Blackberry users through the Blackberry Messenger. Now, if the indications are true, Motorola may be going a step ahead and launch a comprehensive social network for their customers.

In a patent filed recently with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Motorola has described a social networking service over their telecommunication network that will enable users to discover new friends, share pictures and videos, comment on others messages, etc.

Interestingly, it appears that Motorola could be partnering with existing social networks to kick this feature off. The inventors explain

“In another embodiment of the invention a third party service provider may provide the social networking service to the user using the telecommunication network “

Much like the friends discovery tool in most of the social networks, Motorola’s invention too talks about making use of the users’ contact information like phone number and email address to search for other friends who are already in the network.

Motorola has been gaining traction in the smartphone segment since the launch of Droid and it is likely that the company sees a social networking service as a way to showcase their handsets to a cluster of a population rather than sell it to individuals.

With social networking apps already available, do you see this strategy picking up?

Motorola Developing The Nielsen Ratings Equivalent For Mobile TV Broadcasting

The Nielsen ratings is one of the best known tools for tracking television viewership and audience composition. This is widely popular across the world and is taken as the benchmark when it comes to assessing the popularity of television programs.

However, with mobile TV getting prominence over the past few years, there does not exist a standard to track viewership from the mobile devices. Motorola seems to have taken the first step as a recent patent filed by the company shows.

In this filing, titled “Method for Collecting Usage Information on Wireless Devices for Ratings Purposes”, the inventors write about a technology that will enable them to assess viewership ratings from mobile devices. The inventors explain

“An illustrative system and method are described herein that enable the collection of information from mobile devices that are used to receive broadcasts of television or video programming over a wireless network. According to one illustrative embodiment, one or more ratings servers collect information associated with the use of one or more mobile devices to view broadcast video or programming. The collected information can then be used to calculate ratings.”

We are not sure if Nielsen already methods in place to track mobile TV viewership. A CNET article that dates back to 2005 talks about Nielsen working on something similar though it is not clear if Nielsen’s technology, if it exists, would be regarded prior art.

What do you think?