New World Newsfeed: The Most Impressive Second Life-on-Cellphone Demo So Far

Recent dispatches from the outside world...

YouTube - Second Life streaming to your mobile phone by Vollee

... at least the most impressive one I've seen, a near full-featured version of the Second Life viewer with phone-optimized graphics that enable you not only to chat in place, but walk and even fly.  Unlike other cellphone variations, a Vollee spokesperson tells me, this one doesn't require you to be near a computer running SL.  "The Second Life application is hosted on Vollee's servers," he says, "and streamed directly to 3G handsets."  The viewer is just a 100K application downloaded to the phone.  No building or inventory management features yet, however.  "Right now we're focusing on the features that are most important to the Resident," he says, "exploring, chatting, and interaction. We will however be rolling out additional features once the Beta trials are underway in May." Of course, demos don't always live up to day-to-day use-- go here to apply for an Open Beta slot, and share your experiences with it.