Berggi Bringing Email to Low-Cost Phones

By Geoff Duncan Updated November 21, 2006

According to some market research estimates, about two-thirds of the U.S. mobile phone market uses low-cost, basic mobile phones which don’t offer extensive—or any—mobile email or instant messaging capability. Folks who want their messaging on the go have been indoctrinated to consider solutions like smartphones and mobile email devices from BlackBerry and Palm (for business), or devices like the SideKick for the fashion- and gossip-conscious.

New startup service Berggi aims to change that. Starting Thanksgiving Day (November 23) by enabling users to send and receive email using their phones (usig POP and SMTP), and enable instant messaging from Yahoo, AIM, MSN, ICQ, and Google Talk. With email, Berggi delivers the text of email messages, but not attached graphics or files. Berggi is launching in the U.S. and Spain, with support planned soon for the U.K., Mexico, Italy, and Turkey. In the U.S., Berggi service will cost $9.99 a month; in Spain, users will pay as they go, with a €1 payment covering between 10 an 20 email messages.

The Berggi client software suports a wide variety of mobile phones, although the company notes that billing conflicts prevent it working on Verizon phones, and the software deliberately doesn’t support smartphones and Pocket PC/PDA devices like the BlackBerry because Berggi assumes people will use bult-in email solutions with those devices. Berggi says the easiest way to find out if a phone is compatible is just to download the software.

Bergi leaves email messages on the server (so users can pick them up later on their computers), and stops downloading new messages when a phone’s memory fills up. Berggi also manages users’ online status in instant messaging systems, enabling users to display their buddies’ status and showing buddies when Berggi users are online and able to chat.

Targetting the price-sensitive end of the mobile services market without working through wireless carriers is a risk, particularly since (in the use) many low-cost phone users don’t subscribe to data plans, and billing issues (such as with Verizon) may prevent users from trying Berggi or make the system unduly complex. But if you simply must have email and messaging on a phone which doesn’t currently support it, Berggi may be just what you need.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Mobile

How much is the iPhone 14? Here’s exactly what it costs

The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14.

Apple's newest iteration of the iPhone has been available for purchase for a while, but some people are just now looking into picking it up. The iPhone 14 is the most advanced smartphone Apple has ever made and, thanks to the Dynamic Island of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, it stands out as unique when compared to the rest of Apple's smartphone lineup.

Because there are four discrete devices in the iPhone 14 line, and within each phone there are multiple hardware options, understanding how much each iPhone costs can be a little bit of a challenge. It's a good thing that Apple is offering so many different options for people to purchase the phone that best suits their needs, but as a result, there's a little bit of confusion about the different versions.

Mobile

iPhone 14 satellite connectivity: how it works, what it costs, and more

Person holding iPhone 14 searching for Emergency SOS satellite.

One of the most exciting features in Apple's iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro is one that you'll hopefully never need to use: the ability to summon help in an emergency using satellites.

Dubbed Emergency SOS via satellite, this new feature allows iPhone owners to reach out to emergency services from just about anywhere on the planet — even when far away from cellular and Wi-Fi networks. While it initially launched in the U.S. and Canada, Apple has also expanded its reach to four European countries and has more international expansion plans underway for next year.

Mobile

MediaTek’s new Dimensity 8200 brings flagship performance to cheaper phones

mediatek dimensity 8200 processor announce specs news title image

MediaTek is adding a new sub-flagship mobile processor to its lineup, and this one comes up with some "core" upgrades. Say hello to the Dimensity 8200, which succeeds the Dimensity 8100 system on chip (SoC), and will soon be appearing inside a bunch of smartphones made by Chinese brands. It will go against the likes of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC.
The latest offering from MediaTek wades right into the flagship territory by opting for TSMC's 4nm process. Apple also had its mighty A16 Bionic (powering the iPhone 14 Pro) fabricated on the same 4nm tech. For comparison, the MediaTek 8100 is based on TSMC's 5nm process.

The other key change is to the core architecture. The Dimensity 8100 offered a dual-cluster design that included four Cortex-A78 cores and an equal number of Cortex-A55 cores. The Dimensity 8200 is embracing a tri-cluster design, much like the top-tier Dimensity 9200 mobile processor and Qualcomm's own flagships.
You get a single Cortex-A78 core buzzing at 3.1GHz alongside three slightly slower Cortex-A78 cores running at 3.0GHz. For less demanding tasks, there are four Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. The GPU remains unchanged, but MediaTek is adding a bit of extra grunt to the ARM Mali-G610 graphics engine by pairing it with next-gen HyperEngine 6.0 optimization tools.
MediaTek has also armed the Dimensity 8200 with the new Imagiq 785 chip to handle its camera capabilities, which allows 4K HDR video capture. The previous-gen Imagiq 780 ISP only offered support for 200-megapixel image capture, but its successor can go up to 320 million pixels worth of imaging data.