London is now said to be a very wired place where the broadband future can be glimpsed. Somehow, I feel it hasn’t quite arrived yet.
Yes, we use the BBC’s iPlayer to watch programs we’ve missed, but not very often. It could work. I pay only £18 a month for a 24Mb broadband link, so bandwidth isn’t the problem. But who wants to use iPlayer if they can avoid it? The quality is inferior and the content is ephemeral by design. Internet providers are already grumpy about the demand on their networks. It’s a good thing iPlayer isn’t any better or they’d really have something to complain about.
Yes, we make VOIP calls with Skype, but haven’t yet put a cam on the TV for chatting to friends and relations. There are mobiles for sale that run Skype and which work with one’s wi-fi, but the phones are not very nice or, like the Nokia N95, are big and bulky and coming to the end of their life. Roaming with seamless switching between wi-fi and cellular hasn’t taken off yet. I’m still waiting for a good excuse to replace my 3 year old phone (a Treo 650). Maybe Apple will have something interesting on June 9th?
Yes, I can access the Internet from my mobile, but I don’t very often. It was a lot cheaper in the Philippines. GPS and a London A-Z would be more useful, and Nokia’s latest phones now come with this built-in, catching up with Blackberrys. More and more laptops are being sold with high speed wireless modems already built in, as are even pocket web browsers.
Yes, I can listen to audio content on my mobile, but in practice I don’t. I use an ipod if I wish to have some mobile music. The first iPhone just wasn’t good enough. (Nokia still sells more phones per week than Apple has sold iPhones to date).
So, when will I be able to carry a single device on which I can watch recorded or live TV, make phone calls via VOIP at home and cellular on the road, take photos, surf the web, read email, listen to voice mail, check my location against a map, exchange business cards by bluetooth, and pay for things (including public transport) electronically?
London, wired?
Related posts:
- Google University on the Phone Google University is coming to a phone near you. But... you will need a "badger button" on your phone....
- Only in London London awoke yesterday to news that the new Olympic logo would be unveiled “later today.” And what a dud it turned out to be. You...
- London At Night The Boston Globe has some fine photos online of London from above at night. I like nr 15 but the rest could do with some...
- Wireless Vision for London: the Siren call of Peace How wireless technology could improve the quality of life in London ... by silencing emergency vehicles...
- London Gherkin The London Gherkin is an iconic recent addition to the London skyline as these photos illustrate...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
