Heineken, Nokia and advanced sensor technology

BANGALORE, INDIA: Even as Indian liquor baron and Member of Parliament, Vijay Mallya reportedly raised a toast to Heineken, Nokia said cheers with the same brand of beer, as it showcased its phone with advanced sensor technology.

The Finland-based mobile phone handset-maker had last year said it was developing a mobile phone with advanced sensor technology.

At a press conference here today, Gautam Dhingra, marketing manager, Mobile Software Sales and Marketing, passed “a round of drinks” to scribes.

The mobile phones passed around had beer bubbling on their screens and as the reporters “drank”, the beer level gradually decreased before “emptying the mobile phone”.

This, of course, was just to showcase the technology Nokia introduced in its phone. The mobile phone sensed its position – whether it was held upright or slanted or upside down – and the image of golden beer responded accordingly, as if it was in a pitcher.

The phone even sensed the collective lungpower of journalists.

Dhingra selected a game on his phone, a game in which one has to scream to make a building collapse without harming the passers-by, and thereby collect points. The collective scream of Bangalore journalists could garner only 97 points.

They were later told that the highest was over 110 points.

Flip Silent and Shake Lock

Later, during a post-press conference conversation, Dhingra explained more. Nokia has developed more applications, viz., the Flip Silent and Shake Lock.

A ringing phone could be made silent or even the call could be disconnected by flipping it over. The Flip Silent was developed on the S60 platform and partially has used Python.

“Shake Lock was also developed on the S60 platform and has used Python,” Dhingra told CyberMedia News.

With this application, a user can shake the phone to lock the keypad. This application would be more useful to countries like India, where a significant number of users go for low-end or mid-segment phones which need to be locked.

Dhingra, however, did not reveal when Nokia would start shipping this phone with sensor technology.

The Finnish handset-maker is learnt to be developing more sensor technology-based applications before it would launch the phone.