O2 Joggler opens up with Web radio, app store and SDK

By Rich Trenholm on 16 November 2009, 12:02pm

"You're nobody till somebody loves you," sang Dean Martin. But in the world of phones and handheld devices, you're nobody till you've got an app store. The latest device to get app-happy is the O2 Joggler, which also gets Internet radio in a partnership with digital radio specialists Pure.

The Joggler is a touchscreen calendar/photo frame mashup aimed at the family. O2 has announced that an app store is on the way, with the platform opened to developers. O2 has upgraded the Joggler's software from Flash 8 to Flash 10, and will be launching a software developer kit soon. The SDK will be available from O2 Litmus, the phone operator's site for developers.

Internet radio comes to the Joggler via the Pure radio portal The Lounge. Through The Lounge you can access all BBC listen-again shows, podcasts and 12,000 streamed stations.

We're tickled by these mini digital kitchen-calendar doofers, but the Joggler isn't there yet. Toshiba thinks there's a market, launching its Web-enabled JournE Touch earlier this year, which is basically a Joggler with Interweb knobs on.

The problem with the Joggler remains that it can't be synced with other calendars, so you can't transfer information from your Outlook, Google or iCal calendars, or from your phone. Events have to be entered on the device or at the O2 site. Until you can sync, the Joggler can jog on, even at the newly reduced price of £100. Unbelievably, O2 told us, "there are currently no plans in place for (syncing) to happen".

Do you own a Joggler? Has it transformed your domestic routine? Joggle us in the comments.