While it may sound like some top secret plan to create super weapons, Project JAL is actually Orange Mobile’s new plan to develop an Android smart phone that carries their brand. Overall, the new handset design is not bad, it looks a lot like the ZTE Blade –for good reason too; apparently the phone will be manufactured by ZTE.

In terms of specs, the Project JAL: handset will definitely be a low end device. The most important factor is that the phone still sports very practical specs. If all you need to have is a decent smart phone that comes with all the basic features but is still friendly to the budget, then this is going to be a great start.

Of course, price is going to be the big determining factor here. And with estimates on the handset ranging from 100 to only 150 GBP, it is likely that this phone will get plenty of basic 2G users to shift up to 3G.

The screen is a nice big 3.5 inch OLED display –which is already quite big for this kind of handset. No QWERTY keyboard means that the virtual touch screen keyboard will be the main user interface and of course, the screen follows WGA standards (this means viewing content on landscape mode is going to be quite a familiar experience for existing smart phone users).

Other features will include GPS (expect location based apps and features), Bluetooth, WiFi, and of course, access to the Android Market and possibly, Orange’s own app store as well.

Switching over to Orange Mobile may not be such a great plan for some, but for those who want to try out something new and are having their current contracts expire in the next few months, this is a great smart phone and network to switch to.

What does Kevin Russell, the current Chief of 3 mobile think about Apple’s FaceTime? He says that the technology will not catch on -at least, not for the next three years.

The man is making a stand regarding the emerging technology (if one can still categorize video calls as such). After all, video calls have been around for years but the technology has never really been adopted by mainstream users. While it is a novelty to catch up with distant family members or to have business conference held over the internet, video calls have mostly stayed out of the range needed functions for general smart phone owners –and even if the iPhone 4 makes the technology easier to access, it will not mean that we will see a significant rise in number of people will be using it.

Apple’s new front facing camera will certainly be used for video chatting purposes online, but as for the new FaceTime feature, Apple would have to convince network operators to be more generous with bandwidth, and even then, more users are not guaranteed.

The issue lies with the very nature of video calls –they are inconvenient. People need to set a time and place for video calls to be held; it would be impractical to be taking your morning jog while handling a video call at the same time. The only way to take a voice call is in knowing ahead of time that someone will call, and find a nice, safe comfortable place to sit down and chat. On the other hand, you can be running around town doing errands with a Bluetooth headset on your ear taking a regular voice call without any trouble.

Video calling is a novelty that moves in the opposite direction that smart phones are trying to go. While the technology can co-exist with the hardware, it is hard to see this becoming a new standard for many users.

Bluetooth is a technology named after a Danish king, Harald Bluetooth, who consolidated Denmark and areas in Norway during the 900s. Companies in Denmark and Norway have largely influenced the global telecommunications industry. The name was given to the technology in the effort to manifest such influence.

Bluetooth is a data transmission technology that does not require large amounts of electrical power. It does not demand user control to transmit data.  Bluetooth can limit transmission power to at least 1 miliwatt making it an ideal transmission technology for mobile battery operated electronic devices. Bluetooth devices recognize each other’s presence and they automatically communicate with each other without requiring user input.

There are only 2 things that the Bluetooth technology relies on. One of them is the radio frequency technology. The second one is the protocol software that will enable transmission of data between devices.

Devices that are Bluetooth capable can transmit data even when the other devices are not within sight of the sending or receiving user. A Bluetooth device will be able to communicate with another Bluetooth capable device for transfers even if they are located in separate rooms within a building.

The transmission of data is performed among different devices around specified rules and particular amount of data. Bluetooth capable devices can communicate with the least interference from other capable devices.

The principal transmission system in using the technology is low energy radio waves. The range of frequency goes from 2.402 GHz to 2.480. The international agreement for medical, industrial and scientific devices or ISM specifically reserved such frequency range.

Bluetooth is not only capable of a one-on-one data transfer. The technology can support communication up to 8 devices that are within the transmission radius. Simultaneous transfers among these devices can happen.

The most randomly chosen frequencies per second of transmission is 1600 different frequencies. This allows the Bluetooth devices to minimize the use of the same frequency. This will also decrease the interference time when a Bluetooth device overlaps with another device that is using same frequency.