Femtocells isn't a term that gets propelled around Stuff.tv too often. So if your expression currently reads 'vacant', this bit of learning is for you. Firstly, it's not biological, despite the connotations. A femtocell is a low-powered base station (or mobile phone access point) enabling you to use your phone via a broadband connection. So essentially, service providers can extend coverage indoors or to other places access would otherwise be limited or unavailable (like parts of Stuff Towers). Great if you live/work/hang out in places with no windows and rubbish coverage.
OK, boring bit over. The point of that mini science lesson was to give you a bit of an understanding of the technology behind the Airvana Femto Family Tablet. So what is it? Well, it's essentially a multimedia portal for family or household communications and sharing. Its primary concern is keeping you connected, both at home and remotely via your mobile.
Not in the mood for reading? Check out our video demo.
Despite what the name implies, there's no hardware - that'll be the job of third party manufacturers. This means the software is potentially compatible with any touchscreen device, be it iPad or a mahoosive all-in-one like Medion's The Touch. Once you've set up your private network, known as the femtozone, your phone will automatically sync with your personal portal once you're within range.
Features range from syncing calendars, to location notifications, network based customised homescreens, to automatic photo uploads from your phone to the tablet, as well as Facebook (Flickr and Picassa are options too). Of course, if you like to do questionable things with your cameraphone, it's probably best to keep this feature switched off.
And if at any time you have need to know the whereabouts of your ambulant brother or you tantrum throwing teenagers, you can grab this information from the Family Location pane.
When you're not in your femtozone, the software will register you've left the house and send you an SMS asking 'Have you locked the door?' and similarly will send you a 'Welcome Home' message when you step back through it. A message is also whizzed round to everyone on the network informing them of your departure or arrival. A feature that will no doubt prove popular with parents everywhere and the bane of teenagers everywhere.
Of course, the Family Tablet can be customised to your liking - it won't sync or share anything without your permission. And the option to access all the data remotely from your mobile is there too, should you want it.
The Family Tablet is currently under further development and while there won't be any hardware from Airvana, it's working with potential carriers to host its software. So it will be up to them what guise the Family Tablet takes, whether it's specific hardware or compatibility with devices like the iPad, your touchscreen PC, or even your hi-def gogglebox. Whatever form it takes on, we could potentially see it in our living rooms sometime next year.
So while femtocells may not be the peak of interest right now, it has huge implications for the future of wireless technology. It's pretty obvious who the Family Tablet is directed at, but bringing this kind of technology to the mobile phone arena is quite an exciting prospect and could potentially mean cheaper calls, better coverage, more attractive tariffs and longer battery life.
