Telstra recently launched its 'Mobile Loop' service, a higher speed mobile data transfer service that runs at speeds up to 144 Kbps, nudging it into the lower end of 3G networks. We've got our hands on a phone, and taken a quick look at what you'll get for your money.
Telstra's Mobile Loop, while 3G under some definitions and 2.5G under others, is nevertheless around four times faster than GPRS. Using a Samsung SCH-A561, the CDMA version of the Samsung T100, we took a brief look at the different services on offer on the service.
There are two options when starting the Mobile Loop service: "Play" and "Info". Info takes you to the Telstra.com WAP menu, whereas Play takes you to the 3G applications available on Telstra's service - so we'll start with Play.
The screen is laid out with a row of icons along the bottom of the screen and a large window at the top containing the splash page relevant to the selected icon. Navigation is done using the arrow keys and loop button in the middle. Our phone came preloaded with two applications, E-mail and Nineball, and links to MobileShop and Configure.
The e-mail client used is Soda-Pop Mail, created by Tourmaline Networks, a useful client for the mobile phone. It allows you to set up five e-mail accounts from 14 different companies, including many large ISPs in Australia and free Web-based e-mail hosts such as Hotmail and Yahoo.
Checking your e-mail involves downloading the e-mail headers, five at a time, which allows you to determine which e-mails are worth downloading. While this is great for keeping in contact with people the client doesn't handle HTML e-mails very well, and won't download attachments. Writing an e-mail uses the same system as SMS, and the program allows you to created and edit "canned messages", which are the same as SMS templates.
The other messaging program that Telstra is giving a lot of hype is Jumbuck Power Chat. Power Chat has to be purchased from the MobileShop, a simple process. You choose what to download from MobileShop, it tells you the price you will pay (which gets added to your phone bill) and then the application is downloaded. The average downloading time was around 30 seconds. Until May 31 the applications are available for download free.
Power Chat is a normal chat system with a number of rooms which can be entered, depending on your taste. The difference between mobile chat and Internet chat is the Power Chat program only allows you to type in 35 characters, leading to even more abbreviations than usual. Typing on a keypad is fairly difficult in any case.
The game that comes with the phone is Nineball, played with a top-down view of a pool table. It's pretty nifty as games go, as the service gives you VGA style graphics. Other games are available from MobileShop, including EverQuest and Gothic Graveyard.
EverQuest plays quite well, allowing you to run around, kill monsters and get treasure at a fairly high resolution and speed. This will no doubt be a smash hit amongst addicts of the game. Gothic Graveyard is a hack-and-slash style game which pits you against the evil undead in a graveyard, armed only with a flamethrower and a chainsaw.
Fight Hard is a one-on-one fighting game, and although the graphics are extremely basic the moves are fast, even if they are just basic punching and kicking. There's also classics such as SEGA snowboarding, golf and Solitaire.
There are other applications in the fun folder such as DrinkNation, which gives cocktail recipes, and Magic Dateball, which offers advice on tricky dating situations. Just remember, it's only a phone, not an all-knowing oracle.
The Telstra.com site that is available on GPRS is also available on the Mobile Loop service, at correspondingly higher speeds. However, since the service is text-based and designed to run fast on GPRS there isn't really a perceivable difference in download times.
We found the mobile loop service to be reasonably consistent in availability around the Sydney city area, although the service was unavailable a couple of times. We'd put it at about the level mobile voice coverage was a few years ago - very good, but not quite perfect.
Telstra Mobile Loop
Company: Telstra
Price: From AU$70/month, plans vary
4%
4%
