Mobile

Are you one of those unlucky souls who enjoys decent mobile phone reception when you're out and about, but can't get a signal at home or in the office? You're not alone. Indoor phone calls have long been a weak point of cellular coverage.

We've just elected a new president. Barack Obama starts a four-year term starting January 20. There's no way to know how America and the world will change during this time. But we can see how mobile technology will change.

Step through the following slides for the highlights.

Reports have Motorola announcing as soon as Thursday a big push to build new Android phones, but the more important move would be a potential plan by the handset maker to reduce the number of mobile operating systems it uses, analysts said.

Nokia's E63 smartphone, announced Wednesday, will cost US$250 before any subsidies -- a price that puts the phone maker ahead in a burgeoning price war and which one analyst described as "eye-popping."

As mobile data traffic continues to increase, with more generated by home users, operators are under pressure to adopt either UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) or femtocells, both of which have a lot going for them, according to their respective proponents.

A recent very high speed data call, using High-Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) network technology, was the first of its kind in the world, according to Qualcomm Incorporated.

The possibility of a gadget world without wires took a big step forward Thursday when 14 of the biggest names in consumer electronics said they would work with Sony on its short-range, high-speed "TransferJet" wireless data system.

The October 7, 2001, invasion of Afghanistan did more than mark the beginning of the "War on Terror." It also paved way for the introduction of the first mobile phone networks into the country, networks that today find themselves pawns in the fight between the Taliban, the government and security forces.

Motorola has announced of its MOTOTRBO digital, two-way radio system for the enterprise, which brings new application integration features and remains backward-compatible with existing analog systems.

Ultra-low-power ZigBee-based wireless mesh networks, powered by a variety of energy-harvesting technologies, make it possible to create the first truly wireless and battery-less sense and control networks for regulating energy consumption in domestic and industrial uses.

Samsung Electronics and several other vendors at the National Association of Broadcasters show this week are demonstrating a pending mobile TV broadcasting standard that had been forecast for completion last year.

Regional Australians have finally backed the closure of Telstra's CDMA network, which will be terminated at midnight tonight.