Perpetually Dissatisfied

Fed up with your phone? Miffed at your mobile? You’re not alone. But why do we expect our phones to do so much, and is it justified? I’ve written a post for The Really Mobile Project, and for once, I only mention the iPhone a couple of times! Read it here: http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/03/feature-perpetually-dissatisfied-guest-post/

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 4:53 pm

App Review: 1000: Find ‘Em All

At first glance “1000: Find ‘Em All” from Glu Mobile reminded me of Zelda – A Link To The Past on the SNES – the art and style of the game world is really cute and slick. The world is a traditional 2D pixel art background, whereas the main character is rendered in 3D, which [...]

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 1:00 am

All the info I can find on the BBC iPhone apps

Last week, Erik Huggers presented at Mobile World Congress and disclosed that the BBC is developing three iPhone apps: for News, Sport and (potentially) iPlayer. According to the Beeb’s Technology Correspondant, Rory Cellan-Jones, developing these apps has taken a while because of a “complex legal problem“. Well, despite that and any objections being raised by other [...]

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 3:47 pm

It’s just a big iPod touch, right?

The tech furore has subsided, and we’re left with Apple’s tablet – the iPad. Whether you’re of the opinion that it’s just an oversized iPod touch or something more, it has certainly had a massive impact. All About iPhone contributor Andy Cook has already given his opinion. I also asked Steve Litchfield if he was considering [...]

Posted on 11 February 2010 | 2:46 pm

Will I be buying an iPad?

Before the announcement, my mental picture of what Apple’s iPad would be was a big iPod Touch. This did make me wonder why the iPad would be preferable to my Touch. Sure, the bigger screen would be better for viewing videos and playing games but does that alone justify a new product? That said, I [...]

Posted on 29 January 2010 | 8:56 am

In Anticipation of the ‘Latest Creation’

Back in August of 2009 under the title, ‘Presenting Apple’s new iBook!’ I proposed that Apple’s rumoured tablet computer wasn’t just going to be an oversized iPhone but rather a replacement for paper and ink. Six months on and I’m even more convinced. The invitation tagline, ‘Come See Our Latest Creation’, the rumour that Steve Jobs [...]

Posted on 26 January 2010 | 9:06 am

App Review: Doc² and Sheet²

One of the most useful functions for a portable device such as the iPhone and Touch is as a way to view or edit office documents while on the move. If there’s a reliable way to do that, many people will feel able to leave their laptops at home when travelling. It’s surprising then, how few [...]

Posted on 25 January 2010 | 4:28 am

James Burland compares the Nokia N900 and iPhone 3GS

All About iPhone contributor and all-around gadget fiend James Burland has his own blog at Nokia Creative. Recently he’s been taking a look at the Nokia N900 – considered by many to be the current uber-smartphone of choice for the connected geek. His main phone is still Apple’s iPhone 3GS. But could this change? James has [...]

Posted on 23 January 2010 | 2:00 am

What could the Apple Tablet do for the iPhone?

This is the inevitable Apple Tablet post. Barring any last-minute explosion in Silicon Valley caused by the white-heat of tech journalist speculation, Apple should reveal their hitherto mythical Tablet device next week. All the rumours seem to point to it running some form of iPhone operating system, and that iPhone OS 4.0 will be revealed (there’s [...]

Posted on 22 January 2010 | 5:08 am

App Review: CoPilot Live

For someone who spent the formative years of his youth reading maps in the Scouts, I have an unnerving ability to get lost. But so far – and this is especially inscrutable for a gadget freak – I have resisted the lure of satellite navigation. I just didn’t want to have to manage *yet another [...]

Posted on 13 January 2010 | 2:12 pm

Snap a Truphone Taxi and win a FREE SIM with £5 credit!

Tired of roaming? Well why not hail a Truphone taxi and give your feet a rest? 10 black cabs resplendent in Truphone colours can now be spotted running in and around London. And not only can a Truphone cab take...

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 10:25 am

Smartphones make travel easier

An article in USA Today recently showed how people are becoming more and more reliant on their smartphone when away from home. "Beyond online maps and travel guides, travelers are turning to their phones to look up aircraft seat configuration,...

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 3:28 am

G'day Australia - the newest Truphone Local Anywhere country

As the sole Australian working at Truphone's UK office, I am very excited about the following Truphone news. Australia has just been announced as the third Truphone Local Anywhere country, from mid-2010, following on from the UK and USA. This...

Posted on 3 March 2010 | 6:13 am

Miracles happen at Truphone

"Truphone has its own killer app that neither Skype nor Google has – you can get through to a real human being when things go wrong. Miracles can happen." This comment on Truphone's Customer Service's department featured in a recent...

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 10:59 am

The most exciting job on the planet!

Our CEO, Geraldine Wilson, was recently interviewed by Global Telecoms Business following the launch of Truphone Local Anywhere. You can check out the article, in which she talks about Truphone's plans to become the first global mobile operator (and describes...

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 5:00 am

Troubled voice over 3G

A few things have changed over the last month in the voice-over-internet arena since our last post about why there’s still no VoIP over 3G on the iPhone. Apple has finally given the green light for voice apps that use...

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 9:45 am

Eric Schmidt's a fan of Truphone

Amid all the fanfare yesterday at Google's keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Eric Schmidt talked about 'mobile first' and 'mobile technology being fundamental to human existence', one thing was missing from the reporting of the press...

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 9:00 am

The Evolution of Truphone

We're sure you'll have started to notice a lot of changes at Truphone recently. For starters we have new branding on the Truphone Local Anywhere side of the website. We'll be incorporating that into the entire website in the coming...

Posted on 16 February 2010 | 9:44 am

Truphone Local Anywhere competition results

Thank you to everyone who entered our Truphone Local Anywhere competition to win one of three holiday travel vouchers, or one of 50 Truphone Local Anywhere SIM cards. We received many thousands of entrants, from all around the world, and...

Posted on 10 February 2010 | 5:09 am

Call to say 'I love you' this Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day we want to help you share the love. How? With free Truphone calls all-day! Even if you are on opposite sides of the world there is no reason not to call your special someone and say 'I...

Posted on 8 February 2010 | 10:40 am

Web censure 'curbs human rights'

Freedom of expression on the web has been curtailed in 2009, the US state department says in its annual human rights report.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 12:50 pm

Telegraph poles to take broadband

Virgin Media has begun trials of technology to deliver high-speed fibre-optic broadband over telegraph poles in the UK.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 10:20 am

Tories pledge 'fastest broadband'

The Conservatives say they will make Britain the first country in Europe to have widespread super-fast broadband.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 7:34 am

Mobile clinic

Phones transform healthcare in the developing world

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 4:57 am

Farming future

The dawning age of the agricultural automatons

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 4:02 am

dot.Rory

New skirmishes in war of Daily Mail v the internet

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 2:28 am

'Console killer' launches in June

A gaming service that aims to kill off the traditional gaming console will begin streaming games over the net in June this year.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 2:19 am

Sony shows off motion controller

Sony reveals details about its new motion controller the PlayStation Move, as a contender to market leader Nintendo Wii.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 8:57 pm

Internet up for Nobel Peace Prize

The internet is among a record 237 individuals and organisations nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 9:57 am

Mobile phone allows boss to snoop

Mobile technology that could allow prying bosses to monitor every movement of their staff is developed in Japan.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 5:53 am

Facebook calls for 'iconic games'

Facebook calls on game designers to make an iconic title, such as Mario or Halo, specifically for the social network.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 4:19 am

File-sharing sanctions 'unfair'

Illegal file-sharers should be fined, rather than have their internet connection cut off, says the boss of BT.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:39 am

Final Fantasy

Costumed fans queue for launch

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:16 am

Banking fraud 'moves to internet'

Fraudsters are continuing their switch from traditional card fraud to raiding online bank accounts, research suggests.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:12 am

Nanotech 'fuse' for novel battery

A never-before-seen reaction in nanotubes could make for batteries that pack a mighty punch, say researchers.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 10:17 am

Sony eyeing June launch of 3D TV

Electronics giant Sony says its new 3D television will be on sale in Japan from June, with a cost of £2,600 for a 46-inch screen model.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 9:42 am

Games migrate to the social side

The merging of social networks and games is set to dominate this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 7:25 am

Porn domain name plan revived

A plan to create a .xxx net domain for adult content will be revisited three years after it was rejected by internet regulators.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 4:51 am

Hard drive evolution could hit XP

Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest format shifts in 30 years but it could cause problems for Windows XP users.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 4:29 am

dot.Maggie

Gaming pioneers finds the old magic returning

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 4:23 am

Vital statistics

Explore the inner workings of the web and its growth

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 3:24 am

Internet access 'a human right'

Almost four in five people worldwide see internet access as a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 1:52 am

Sun spotters protect the Earth

Your help is needed to watch the surface of the Sun

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 10:33 am

Has copyright gone too far?

Has copyright gone too far? asks Bill Thompson.

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 5:14 am

Naples' online 'ethical' city

The web community founded on morals and manners

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 5:33 am

Will people pay for net news?

Can newspapers charge online and survive?

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 11:02 am

Are all bits created equal?

The US struggles with the battle over net neutrality

Posted on 12 February 2010 | 8:42 am

Open society and open systems

Openness must be defended, says Bill Thompson.

Posted on 2 February 2010 | 5:06 am

The past is the future for tech

Bill Thompson keeps an eye on the future

Posted on 31 December 2009 | 7:00 am

The media and the message

Innovation is the key for papers says Bill Thompson

Posted on 16 December 2009 | 4:51 am

Internet Blog

Posted on 3 September 2009 | 5:26 am

Digital Revolution

Posted on 3 September 2009 | 5:23 am

Japan protest over tuna ban plan

Protests are being held in Japan over a proposed ban on international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 9:48 am

The internet election?

Can the internet sway the result of the forthcoming general election? BBC election internet correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has been finding out.

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 7:22 am

UK develops 'intelligent CCTV'

CCTV cameras that can pick out abandoned luggage, suspicious behaviour and lock onto potential suspects are being developed by UK researchers.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 11:30 pm

UN asks for climate body review

The UN climate change panel's work is to be reviewed by science academies around the world, in plans announced by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 9:01 pm

How to recycle a plane

Many aircraft which are too old or too expensive to run come to an airfield in Gloucestershire to be scrapped - and this is what happens to them.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 7:16 am

Superweed predator to be released

A plant-eating predator that preys on aggressive superweed Japanese knotweed is to be given a trial release in England.

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 6:42 am

How predator feasts on superweed

A plant-eating predator from Japan that could fight the spread of an aggressive superweed is given the go-ahead for a trial release in England.

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 5:24 pm

Digital Giants: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft speaks about cloud computing and having one platform for TV, radio and the web.

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 6:37 am

Nasa launches weather satellite

Nasa has launched its latest meteorological satellite, in the hope of improving weather forecasts.

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 6:37 pm

George Monbiot on climate change

Guardian writer and author George Monbiot reports from his home as he attempts to dig up the truth on climate change.

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 6:01 am

James Delingpole vs George Monbiot

Climate change guru George Monbiot takes on sceptic James Delingpole who writes for the Daily Telegraph.

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 6:00 am

Iceberg 'size of Luxembourg' threat

A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned.

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 7:26 am

Google verdict 'threatens freedom'

Google spokesman Bill Echikson has said the company will appeal after an Italian court found three executives guilty of violating the privacy of an Italian boy with Down's Syndrome.

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 5:15 am

Space shuttle Endeavour lands

The space shuttle Endeavour has landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, following its latest visit to the International Space Station (ISS).

Posted on 21 February 2010 | 8:55 pm

Five Minutes With: Professor Brian Cox

Physicist and presenter Professor Brian Cox talks to Matt Stadlen about working on the Large Hadron Collider, his science heroes, how his taste in music is ageing, and he gives a beginner's guide to the Big Bang.

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 11:43 pm

NEWS: Mobility Bridge offers new way of using your mobile

Empowering people with complex impairments

A new innovation is in the works which allows those with conditions that affect movement, posture and co-ordination to effectively operate mobile phones and computer technology.

Called the Mobility Bridge, the device has two methods of operation: one uses a combination magnet to activate a contactless switch, and another uses a more sophisticated proximity sensor.

Through various body movements a signal can be sent to operate the mobile phone via Bluetooth, the action from the individual can then be interpreted by way of an application on the phone being used. Viewing the phone can also take place on an optional larger screen.

The system can thereby be attached to a wheel chair allowing the user to see and operate the phone. This patent-pending technology appears to be very adaptable, which is essential for it to be able to operate with a variety of devices and, more importantly, people with very different and often complex impairments, such as cerebral palsy.

This could be a marked improvement on current devices which often suffer from reliability issues and can be costly.

Mobility Bridge is a spin-off from the Wheeltop project funded by BT, and is a collaborative effort between industry, academia and Beaumont College, Scope’s Further Education College in Lancaster and has been part funded by the Government’s Technology Strategy Board.

Tags: Phones Software Mobile phones Mobility Bridge

Mobility Bridge offers new way of using your mobile originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:21:27 +0000

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 10:21 am

NEWS: iPhone 4G snapped in ultimate spy shot homage

You've got to give it to them - at least they've tried.

We are still wondering how hard we should laugh since "supposed" spy shots of the yet unannounced iPhone 4G have turned up on umpcfever.com.

Taken, by the looks of things, in some shady, dirty, dark factory (real faux Hollywood studio that was used for the SAW movies) we can't help feeling that they've put so much effort into the fakes that they deserve some kind of soap box to have their say.

Specs? Don't be silly, there aren't any, but that hasn't stopped a full unboxing, complete with uncharacteristic metal stand (that actually looks like a plate stand your parents or grandparents probably have) and one of the models sporting a yellow case. Yellow?

If the pictures are real, then you can expect the next iPhone to be flatter, come in a multitude of colours and feature a more iPad style homepage with what looks to be a multi-tasking bar.

Bonkers or on the money? What do you think??

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones iPhone Apple Rumours

     

iPhone 4G snapped in ultimate spy shot homage originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:54:01 +0000

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 9:54 am

NEWS: Motorola flees to Bing in Android deal

Google's China pullout forces phone maker to look elsewhere

Following Google's noisy exit from China in January, Motorola's been wondering what to do about the handsets that it's planning to launch in the country in 2010. It can't run Google Search or Google Maps any longer, so instead it's jumped into the arms of Microsoft and its Bing search and maps.

Users will get a pre-loaded Bing bookmark, and a Bing widget that allows users to directly access the search engine from their device's homescreen. Christy Wyatt, Motorola's?corporate vice president of software and services, said: "We believe that consumer choice is one of the most critical components to ensuring a rich and seamless client experience".

While the deal only extends to China, the partnership is described as "global", so it's entirely possible that it'll be expanded to more territories. What do you think - Could Bing on Android be a serious threat to Google long-term? Or does the search giant have little to fear from a widget and a bookmark? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Read

Tags: Phones Operating Systems China Motorola Microsoft Bing Android Google

Motorola flees to Bing in Android deal originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:34:13 +0000

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 8:34 am

NEWS: iPhone app fridge magnets - there's a need for that

Apps go 3D

There seems to be an app for everything these days, including sticking things to your fridge.

The aptly named App Magnets are fridge magnets in the shape of iPhone?icons designed by the Jailbreak Collective.

Investing in a box for $12.99 will give you 18 individual magnets measuring 7/8 x 7/8 inches that feature all the popular apps from the iconic phone from Apple in return.

In the pack you'll get all the classic apps from the phone including Text messages, Calendar, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Google Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, iTunes store, App Store, Compass, Phone, Email, Settings, and iPod, however you won't? be able to order your own choices from the thousands of apps available in the App Store.?

"In order to bring the magic of the iPhone into the third dimension, we asked an artist to reach into the iPhone home screen and literally pluck out the apps.?Then we added a little magnetism.?And best of all, we mass produced them so now you too can own your very own set of 3-D App Magnets!", says the blurb on the product page.

Available for all, they'll set you back $12.99 plus shipping.

Thanks Rob.

Read

Tags: Gadgets Apple iPhone Phones

 

iPhone app fridge magnets - there's a need for that originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:27:28 +0000

Posted on 11 March 2010 | 2:27 am

NEWS: Vodafone to slash another 500 jobs

Newbury headquarters hit by further cuts

It seems that Vodafone still has some way to go as far as cost saving measures as it is set to announce 500 job cuts from its Newbury headquarters.

After Vodafone shed 500 jobs last year Newbrarians working for the mobile giant could be forgiven for hoping that further job losses were behind them, but it seems that as part of a ?1 billion cost-cutting programme redundancies will be inevitable, mainly coming from middle management.

Newbury and Vodafone have a long history together as the company was started there in 1982, reaching its height in 2000 when it employed 3500 workers within 62 buildings, the company has remained in the vicinity of the town since its inception.

The news of the cuts comes from the Times, and as yet Vodafone has not confirmed the job cuts. We'll bring you more info when we have it.

Read

Tags: Phones Vodafone Biz

 

Vodafone to slash another 500 jobs originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:16:33 +0000

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:16 am

NEWS: Street Fighter IV for iPhone fights its way into App store

Tiger Upper Cut

Street Fighter IV, spawned from the classic Street Fighter II Turbo that you no doubt spent many an hour playing, perhaps even bunking school to do so, has hit the iPhone App store for those looking to go retro.

Available to buy from today in both the US and the UK, the app will set you back ?5.99 and let you relive your gaming past playing up to eight characters like Ryu, Ken, Blanka and Guile in seven different locations.

Controls are all handled on screen, but Capcom, the games developers insist that you'll still be able to do all the special combo moves that you need to be crowned Street Fighter.

Rather than just playing against the phone, the game also supports head-to-head battles via Bluetooth.

Check out this?VIDEO of Street Fighter 4 on iPhone?to see it in action

Read

Tags: Gaming Phones Mobile phone apps iPhone apps Capcom iPhone Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV for iPhone fights its way into App store originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:09:11 +0000

Posted on 10 March 2010 | 3:09 am

NEWS: Vodafone HTC Magic comes with malware?

Panda security claims to have found botnet-infected handset

Security software company Panda claims to have identified that brand new HTC Magic phones distributed by Vodafone might be carrying and distributing malware without the user's knowledge. The company has written a blog post claiming that a brand new Spanish handset, plugged into a computer for the first time, triggered an infection alert.

That infection allegedly comprised a Mariposa bot client, run by someone called tnls. The implications are severe - if infected, the handset could log all of your private data - phone calls, text messages, web passwords and browsing data and send it to a third party. The phone would also attempt to spread its infection to any computer it was plugged into.

The Vodafone HTC Magic also supposedly contained the Conficker worm, and a Lineage password stealing app. We've reached out to Vodafone UK and HTC for comment, but neither had got back to us at the time of writing. We'll keep a close eye on the story, and issue updates as we get them.

Update: HTC has got back to us, saying: "HTC operates rigorous quality assurance testing of all products entering the market. We believe this was an isolated incident but are working closely with Vodafone to investigate thoroughly. We have been delighted by the reaction of Vodafone customers to the HTC Magic and look forward to the arrival of the new HTC Legend and HTC Desire, which will be rolling out across EMEA in select markets from April 2010".

Update II: And here's a statement from Vodafone: "The device involved in the incident was purchased?by a customer of Vodafone Spain and is currently being?investigated.?The early indications are that this was an isolated local incident.?Vodafone UK has?received?no reported security problems?customers using the HTC Magic, although we continue to monitor the situation closely. We take our customer's security and privacy extremely seriously and will take?further action to protect our customers should it be necessary".

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Vodafone HTC HTC Magic Malware Viruses And Malware Panda

Vodafone HTC Magic comes with malware? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:05:30 +0000

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 6:05 am

NEWS: Pocket-lint mobile deals

Best phone deals from around the Web

With so many mobile phones available and so many deals to compare how do you know you've got the right one? We've set up a mobile deals and prices site called Pocket-lint Mobiles to bring you the best deals from around the Web, which should help you choose the right one.

Every Monday we'll give you a heads up on a few of the best mobile deals we can find, meaning all you have to do is scroll down the page and select the handset that you want for more info and a place to buy.

Alternatively, if none of these phones take your fancy or suit your price bracket, you'll be able to find some that do at Pocket-lint Mobiles.

Happy comparing!

So what are the hot deals this week?

1. HTC Touch2

This comes in at ?15 a month on T-Mobile with an 24-month contract. For that you'll get 300 minutes and 300 texts as well as the free handset, which features a 3.2-megapixel camera for snapping pics, a 2.8-inch touchsreen and GPS.

GET DEAL | READ REVIEW

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2. Motorola Milestone

Available from buymobilephones.net this will set you back ?30 a month on an18-month contract with O2. You'll get 300 minutes with unlimited texts along with a brand spanking new handset - featuring a 3.7-inch touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY and running Android 2.0.

GET DEAL | READ REVIEW

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3. BlackBerry Curve 8520

Aimed at the first time smartphone buyer, the Curve 8520 is available through Phones4U? on an 18-month Vodafone contract. The deal will give you 75 minutes of free calls and 250 texts for ?20 a month.

GET DEAL | READ REVIEW

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4. Nokia X6

Nokia's music orientated handset should see you dancing in the streets. Available from 3, this deal is based on a 12-month contract at ?25 a month, you'll get 500 minutes talk time (unlimited 3-to-3 minutes) and it'll also see you good for unlimited texts.

GET DEAL | READ REVIEW

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5. Sony Ericsson Satio

The Satio's strong point is its camera as it sports a whopping 12.1 megapixels and Xenon flash. It's available from Orange for ?30 a month over 24 months with 900 minutes of talktime and unlimited texts.

GET DEAL | READ REVIEW

This is just a smattering of the handset deals that we compare week in, week out so for more visit our mobile comparison site Pocket-lint Mobiles.
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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile Deals HTC Touch2 Motorola Milestone BlackBerry Curve 8520 Nokia X6 Sony Ericsson Satio

Pocket-lint mobile deals originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:02:02 +0000

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 6:02 am

NEWS: O2 updates iPhone tariff to include video calls

Clue for the iPhone 4G?

Apple websites are reporting that O2 has made a small tweak to its iPhone tariffs over the weekend, updating them to include a cost for "video calls" - which happens to be the same as for voice calls. The update lends weight to rumours that the next iPhone will come with a front camera and video calling capabilities.

It also tells us a few more things, too - it suggests that O2's rather more confident about its data network, if it expects to provide enough bandwidth for its iPhone users to start video conferencing. It also poses a question - can Apple resurrect what was once a key feature for smartphones? A few years back, every handset came with a front-facing camera, but video calling never took off.

Previous rumours have seen iconography for video chatting uncovered in the iPhone 3.2 SDK, so we wouldn't be entirely surprised if Jobs unveils the iPhone 4 to include video calling. Other rumours include a 5-megapixel camera with flash and a faster processor.

If you'd like to check out the pricing for yourself, head over to O2's Sim-only iPhone page and hit "view charges outside your allowance".

Update: O2 has got in touch with us, and said: "The iPhone section of our website states video calling is charged at the same price as voice calls. We can confirm that this was listed in error. We will be amending our website shortly to clarify this and would like to apologise for any confusion caused".

That's interesting - the only denial in there is that video calling will be as cheap as voice calling. We thought it sounded a little generous. There's no denial there that an iPhone 4, if it exists, will have voice calling.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones iPhone O2 Tariffs Video conferencing

O2 updates iPhone tariff to include video calls originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:54:05 +0000

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 3:54 am

REVIEWS: HTC Legend mobile phone

Will it be legendary?

The HTC Hero was undeniably the handset of 2009, winning many industry awards, including Pocket-lint's own. It represented the pinnacle of HTC's Android smartphone assault and the launch handset for the HTC Sense user interface. The HTC Legend supersedes the HTC Hero, but at the same time, steps aside for a new flagship, the HTC Desire. The Desire's elevated status might cast a long shadow, but can the Legend still shine brightly?

It a word yes. It's no surprise to hear that the HTC Legend is everything that the Hero is and more. It is an evolution rather than a revolution and whilst HTC Hero owners might look on through green eyes they really needn't, as the experience is very close.

There is no getting away from the fact, however, that the HTC Legend is staggeringly beautiful. As much as we liked the Hero's design (and still do), the Legend is a step forward. From a design perspective, the HTC Legend takes a huge bite of the Apple: the design and manufacturing story from the Legend reads like the unibody MacBook.

Machining from a block of aluminium gives the HTC Legend a premium seamless look and feel and we certainly think it looks better than the HTC Desire. The "chin" has been relaxed, but it's still there as a design signature. Perhaps the only thing that doesn't work now, is that in pursuing those aesthetically pleasing lines, HTC has taken another step towards the iPhone: the top edge is a little too hard against the ear when you make a call, which can be uncomfortable.

You don't have to clip on a plastic back; accessing the internals is an adventure in itself. Under that black battery cover on the bottom you see the space-saving lengths that HTC have had to go to. Pull off the cover and you are presented with a fold-out flap that gives you access to the battery bay, the SIM card slot and the microSD card slot. This is by no means hot-swappable, but you'll be able to use cards up to 32GB and you'll need to if you plan to carry around any amount of media content.

The aluminium body gives the Legend dimensions of 112 x 56.3 x 11.5mm, it is compact and perfectly pocketable, with that metal body making it luscious and strokeable in the hand. It weighs 135g.

Sitting on the front of the Legend is the 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display. With a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels it isn't the sharpest screen around, but the Sense UI and Android make good use of the display, as it looks sensational. The screen is vivid, with colours a touch over-saturated, but with plenty of punch.

Running across the bottom of the screen are four control buttons, offering the usual home, menu, back and search. These buttons have backlit indicators set against the black background to match the bottom of the screen from a design point of view. But the plastic finish perhaps doesn't have the same elegance as the rest of the handset. A rapid press on one of the end buttons (home/search) will see it rock slightly to the side, not giving the clear press you might expect: this is us being extremely picky, but it's otherwise difficult to find fault with the Legend's build quality.

The trackball from the Hero (and the Google Nexus One) is gone, replaced with a clickable optical trackpad. The chances are you'll rarely use it as the touch response from the screen is so good.

Sitting at the core of the HTC Legend is a 600MHz processor, a small bump over the 528MHz of the Hero, but nothing drastic: compare this to the 1GHz processor in the HTC Desire and you see the real difference between these handsets. But with Android continuing to receive refinements, and an update to HTC Sense, you find that there is little sign of lag as you move around normal operations in the Legend.

Moving around the homepages is swift, swiping with real purpose. Aspect switching is rapid and opening and closing applications is rapid, but with a slight delay on some more demanding applications. As a multi-tasking device you need to keep in mind what you have running in the background and we'd recommend using some sort of application killer to manage the load your applications are putting on the device.

Running Android 2.1, you get the latest version of Google's operating system, but no sign of the free navigation that some users benefit from. You get access to a world of applications from the boring to the sublime, via the ridiculous, from the Android Market. It doesn't quite reach the heady heights achieved by Apple's App Store, but with a growing community of users and developers, and handsets from most of the big manufacturers, it's the next best thing.

Sense gets some tweaks, with HTC telling us that they made minor alterations to practically every aspect of the user interface. It is still ultra-friendly, making it easy to leverage the integration that Android gives with Google services (Gmail, calendar, contacts) with wider social networks. Facebook, Twitter and Flickr get a good look-in, with a beautifully rich contact book giving you access to updates and photo albums online with consummate ease.

One of the new elements is Friend Stream, a new integrated application that compiles updates into one stream, a little like Happenings on Motorola's MotoBlur. For those that actively follow Facebook and Twitter, it means you can see everything in one place, but we found that Twitter drowned out everything, which is going to happen if you follow a lot of people.

HTC Peep is still a blast to use as a Twitter client and if you don't like it then you have plenty of options to choose from. It's a shame that there is no facility for image previewing right from the application itself as many rivals offer. We're still a little miffed that the updates between the applications and the widgets doesn't seem to have a strong connection; arrive at the Twitter widget and you'll often find it needs to refresh before you can view the latest tweets, by which point you might as well have gone direct to the application.

The new top-down view - known as Leap - replicates Expose on the Mac, letting you zoom out and view all the homepages and then jump right to the page you want. It can get you to one of your homepages in two presses rather than a number of swipes. It only shows you HTC Sense pages though, rather than revealing all your running applications. There probably isn't the screen real estate to do this, but that's a development we'd like to see.

HTC Sense is the icing on the cake here, but it is worth remembering that the cake is Android. Some will like the sweet frosting that HTC have applied, and some just want to get to the cake. We'd still recommend HTC's Sense, it is super friendly, but for those that don't care about social networks, you might find that raw Android suits you just as well.

One of the great aspects of Sense, however, is the keyboard. This has a number of changes from the basic Android and it is one of the strongest touchscreen keyboard experiences you'll find. As you type you get intelligent suggestions that correct your errors (in most text entry places). It means you can type at speed, hit a few wrong keys, but still get the words you were after. It's intuitive, it's fast and plenty responsive.

The landscape QWERTY gives you the most space - ideal for using two thumbs - but we've found that bashing out messages on the portrait QWERTY is just as easy. Not all applications or screens will rotate, but that's not as critical as it is on some other phones because the keyboard experience is so positive.

Besides that accelerometer you have the other sensors you'd expect in the Legend. You have a proximity sensor so it knows it is next to your face and the motion sensor will quieten the ring tone when you pick it up. Turn the phone face down and it silences - so you can easily reject a call without having to even press a button. Of course, that chin still means that face down the screen doesn't touch the surface it is sitting on.

You get all the connectivity that you demand of a high-end smartphone, you get HSDPA, feeding your phone a thick rich stream of data, backed up by Wi-Fi. You get Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and a digital compass, so you'll be able to drill down to Streetview in Google Maps and virtually peer at where you are going.

The browser, as before, offers an excellent internet experience on the move. You get multi-touch zooming, a step ahead of most other Android handsets, as well as double tap zooming and smart text reflowing. Moving around a page is silky-smooth and using HTC Flash Player, you get support for many (but not all) internet videos too. HTC Flash Player is a separate application, however, so you'll jump from your browser to the Flash player, but you do then at least get full-screen playback, and punching Back returns you to the page you were on. Some videos will play in place in the browser (like Pocket-lint's Stuart Miles on Megawhat, pictured above), so you'll have to play around and see what you get.

Around the back of the handset you get the customary 5-megapixel autofocus camera, but this time an LED flash adds to the picture. The autofocusing is fast enough and shutterlag is kept under control. Images generally are a little soft and colours don't seem quite right, but for sharing online this will do well enough: rival phones with a camera bent will give you better results, especially in skin tones. The LED flash has a tendency to give pictures a yellowy-green cast, whilst blowing out close subjects, but that's entirely typical. Low light shots without the flash are prone to lots of noise.

Video capture comes in at a decidedly average 640 x 480 pixels 3GP, falling behind a growing number of phones offering HD video capture, but offering reasonable daylight performance. There is no direct control over the frame rate: we got 26fps in good light outdoors and 10fps in low light. The position of the mic does mean you are likely to pick up any hand movements too. You get easy sharing options for your captured, posting out via YouTube, Facebook, or other routes, with a few presses.

Sitting on top of the Legend is a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you'll be able to use your own headphones to get the most out of the music player, be it from local storage, or from a service like Spotify. We were impressed with the sound quality (with our own headphones) and the integration of the music player is rather good. Widgets (both HTC's and Android) offer up homepage media players, and small details like being able to change the volume whilst the handset is locked, and being able to easily pause music from the standby screen make all the difference. You also get an FM radio.

Whilst music format support is rather rich (AAC, AMR, OGG, M4A, MID, MP3, WAV, WMA), video support is surprisingly sparse: 3GP, 3G2, MP4 and WMV leaves a number of holes, if you plan to dump over a load of video content.

Finally we arrive at the Achilles' Heel of smartphones: battery life. The HTC Legend takes another bite out of the iPhone here, with battery performance that won't last the day if get heavy with it. If you are a heavy caller, you may even need to charge the Legend during the day, certainly this is a handset you'll need to charge every night. Diving into the Settings menu will give you access to battery information, showing you the up time and what has been drawing all that power: Wi-Fi, the display and "Cell standby" (the mobile phone network) will be the likely suspects.

There is a Power Control widget that will let you quickly switch off things like background syncing, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, as well as cycle through display brightness, all of which will let you preserve your battery a little longer.

Verdict:

The HTC Legend has the looks and offers the type of user experience that will turn heads, without a doubt. It takes what the HTC Hero started and continues, offering a compact device with plenty of power and an interactive experience that sets the pace for smartphone manufacturers to follow. A year on and HTC Sense is still great fun, but becoming slightly less unique.

The battery life will raise some eyebrows and you need to be aware of this limitation. For some it will never be a problem, but for power users, you'll need to look at having a charger at your desk, in your car, and perhaps a backup battery. At least, unlike Apple's iPhone, you can change the battery in a matter of seconds, should you need to. On the camera and video front it is beaten by a number of rivals.

But in other areas the Legend shines like a star. The keyboard is excellent, the browser is fantastic, it multi-tasks, delivering the flexibility of Android and the deep integration of HTC Sense. Tweakings have made Sense a better interface, but they are mostly minor -they don't change the fundamental experience that Sense users already have.

Overall the HTC Legend offers a user experience that is an absolute joy. From set-up to everyday use, it is intuitive, fun and engaging, making the Legend a serious contender for your hard-earned cash.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC HTC Legend Android

                                       

HTC Legend mobile phone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:24:01 +0000

Posted on 8 March 2010 | 3:24 am

NEWS: Win Apple's latest creation in our iPad competition

Just comment on any story to win

First off congratulations to Perry Sheldrick who won a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium for his comment during February.

Good news. In the lead up to the much-anticipated release of the Apple iPad at the end of April in the UK we at Pocket-lint have decided to give one of the devices away.

We have covered a whole host of iPad related articles over the last couple of weeks so regardless of your iPad-related question, you can check out all that the Apple device has to offer on our dedicate Apple iPad homepage.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is comment on any story on Pocket-lint during the months of March and April. It doesn't have to be in depth, detailed or technical, but it does have to be useful, helpful or funny - so entering couldn't be easier.

You don't have to sign up to comment on the stories, we just ask for your name, location and email address - that does not show up online and is not passed on. At the end of the month the Pocket-lint team will choose what they believe is the best comment.

Specs for the device will be 16GB memory, an A4 processor running at 1GHz and battery life of around 10 hours. Connectivity wise you'll get Wi-Fi b, g and n as well as bluetooth, whilst the screen measures 9.6 inches with a 1024 x 768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch.

Good luck and get commenting.

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Apple Apple iPad Competitions

Win Apple's latest creation in our iPad competition originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:04:11 +0000

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 7:04 am

NEWS: Bluetooth 4.0 to arrive before end of year

Uses less power than previous editions

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced that version 4.0 of the specification could start showing up in devices such as headsets, smartphones and laptops ?before the end of the year.

The new version should be able to be used in considerably lower-power devices than previously, including those which run on coin-cell batteries. That could include?watches, pedometers, smart meters and other tiny gadgets. Previously, Bluetooth would only go into devices packing AAA batteries or larger.

Bluetooth 4.0 will also include the ability to jump onto Wi-Fi networks that was introduced with Bluetooth 3.0. Devices that can access an 802.11 network can use it to transmit data at a much higher throughput - about 25MBitsps. Bluetooth 4.0, despite the availability of a low-power-mode, uses about the same amount of power as 3.0 in its normal setting.

No products have yet been announced that'll feature Bluetooth 4.0, but as soon as we hear of any, we'll let you know.

Read

Tags: Software Phones Bluetooth

Bluetooth 4.0 to arrive before end of year originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:26:40 +0000

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 5:26 am

NEWS: Microsoft touts "different" Windows Phone 7

"Different is often good. Especially when it's different for good reasons"

Microsoft has gone on an offensive to try and win back developer support on its Windows Phone platform. Tellingly, the main thrust of the attack is on how "different" the platform is compared to the old versions of Windows Mobile.

In a lengthy blog post from Charlie Kindel - Windows Phone's partner group program manager - the company laid out exactly how the experience will be different for developers. He outlined three key goals - letting end users be able to customise their handsets, allowing developers to profit from their creations, and pushing a vision of "3 screens plus cloud" - referring to your phone, your PC and your TV.

But Microsoft admitted that making the change wouldn't be easy - "For us, the cost of going from good to great is a clean break from the past. To enable the fantastic user experiences you’ve seen in the Windows Phone 7 Series demos?so far we’ve had to break from the past. To deliver what developers expect in the developer platform we’ve had to change how phone apps were written. One result of this is previous?Windows mobile applications will not run on Windows Phone 7 Series".

That could upset developers who've spent plenty of cash on developing content for Windows Mobile 6.5 and before, but it's likely that it won't be too tough to convert them to the new platform. However, some suggest that starting from scratch could be a tough proposition for the company, especially with Google and Apple ruling the roost when it comes to apps.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Microsoft Windows Phone Windows Phone 7 Series

Microsoft touts "different" Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:55:26 +0000

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 3:55 am

NEWS: First photos surface of Project Pink

Microsoft's mobile phone emerges

The first few photos of Microsoft's "Project Pink" handset have found their way onto the Web. Like every spy shot ever, they're blurry and free of detail, but appear to depict a landscape QWERTY slider with an interesting black and green colour scheme. From the looks of the menus, it has plenty of social networking functionality, and a camera with a flash.

A source in contact with Gizmodo told the US tech blog that the handset was intuitive to use, "better than Android" and the animations had a lot in common with Windows Phone 7. There's a download screen for apps which doesn't have any apps yet, though it could tie in to the Windows Phone 7 marketplace.

This is the "Pure", as opposed to the "Turtle", but it seems that the Pure will also be coming to Verizon in the USA. Launch is set for sometime around May in the States but there's no word on when - or indeed "if", if the same strategy is applied as was applied to the Zune - the handset might make it to Britain. If they do make it out of the states, they could be called the "Pride" and "Lion", if leaked codenames are accurate.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Microsoft Zune Project Pink Rumours

 

First photos surface of Project Pink originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:50:27 +0000

Posted on 5 March 2010 | 2:50 am

NEWS: Daily news roundup: Skinput controller, Android gesture tech and more

Links to the biggest stories of the day in one place

Want to know what's been hot in the world of technology and gadgets today?

Everyday Pocket-lint thumbs through all the stories from the last 24 hours and sorts the ten most-read into one handy place, so you can get an at-a-glance look at what's what.

Top of the pile today is news of a technology which allows users to not only interact with a computer/gadget via the skin, but create a touch interface on the skin itself. We also have word from Opera who reports a boost of its browser, since the roll out of Microsoft's ballot screen, whilst a Google exec states that desktops will be redundant in 3 years.

We also have a couple of top-notch reviews in the form of the new Sky set-top box, which boasts a massive 1TB of storage, as well as the Sony Ericsson U5i Vivaz mobile phone. Here are the top stories from the last 24 hours:

NEWS:VIDEO: Skinput sees human body as controller
REVIEW:Sky 1TB set-top box
NEWS:Opera reports massive browser ballot boost
NEWS:Google Exec: Desktops will be redundant in 3 years
NEWS:VIDEO OF THE DAY – Drawing in Excel
REVIEW:Sony Ericsson U5i Vivaz mobile phone
NEWS:Apple pulls Wi-Fi detection apps
NEWS:Android to get gesture recognition
NEWS:Penguin demos iPad books
NEWS:WEBSITE OF THE DAY – Coffee Geek

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

 

Daily news roundup: Skinput controller, Android gesture tech and more originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:29:58 +0000

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 11:29 am

NEWS: Nokia Terminal Mode wants cars to embrace phones

One connection and system to rule them all

Mobile phone makers have only just managed to come to some kind of agreement over standardising the power socket, but that isn't stopping Nokia lobbying for a unified way of connecting your phone to your car.?

Talking at the Geneva Motor Show, Nokia believes it should be easy connect your smartphone to your car to allow services and content from the mobile to be fully integrated with the in-car speakers, displays and control systems.

The initiative, called Terminal Mode, sets out to achieve this, says the company, by proposing an industry standard, to connect all smartphones (not just Nokia) that adopt it. Terminal Mode will support in-car infotainment systems and allow companies like Nokia to offer its GPS software to drivers rather than them having to rely on dedicated systems.

To kick start the concept, Nokia has announced that it has already formed partnerships with car stereo makers Alpine, Harman Becker, and Fiat.

Tags: Car And GPS Phones Nokia Terminal mode Fiat Alpine

 

Nokia Terminal Mode wants cars to embrace phones originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:48:22 +0000

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 10:48 am

NEWS: Vodafone launches prize for best App

1m euro prize pot up for grabs

Vodafone, having just announced a deal with Foursquare in the UK is continuing on its quest to embrace developers and get some decent dedicated apps on its handsets.

With that in mind, the company has announced a 1m euro prize fund available to European developers to see who can come up with the best app.

According to the mobile phone operator, the Vodafone App Star competition is open to any developer across the world and closes on 31 March 2010.

Developers can choose to submit their app into one of eight markets (UK, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal or Spain) and the best entry in each market will receive 25,000 euros. The second and third best entries will receive 15,000 euros and 10,000 euros. The winning entries from each market will then progress to a second round of the competition, where the top eight apps will be put to the public vote.?

The app with the highest number of public votes will win an additional 75,000 euros, with the second place app receiving 25,000 euros.

It's the second time the company has launched the initiative with Smartrunner, a sports-tracking and geo-tracking app that helps you stay in shape using your mobile as the best app first time around.

So do you have an app idea?

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps iPhone apps Android apps Vodafone

 

Vodafone launches prize for best App originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:37:03 +0000

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 10:37 am

REVIEWS: Sony Ericsson U5i Vivaz mobile phone

HD monster?

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz carries the moniker U5i, telling us that it comes from the same range as the Satio that we reviewed recently. It loses much of the bulk, however, bringing with it curvaceous "human design". But does this out-perform its bigger brother?

The back curves enough that you'll be able to set it on the table in the pub and spin it like a spinning top. The camera lies on the back slightly off-centre, so don't worry, it won't be spinning around scratching up the lens, but with no cover, this is a potential issue.

Those curves don't go much further than running the length of the device and around the top and bottom ends. The sides aren't given quite the same treatment, so despite Sony Ericsson's posturing on the design, it isn't that revolutionary. It measures 107 x 52 x 12.5mm and weighs in at 97g.

The sides are inlaid with coloured plastic, with our review sample carrying the default silver body and blue sides "Moon Silver"; various colour schemes will be available with O2 and Vodafone both opting for versions of the Vivaz that match their company colours, if that sort of thing bothers you.

The sides bring with them some welcome features: you'll find a 3.5mm headphone jack sitting above Micro-USB connection. That bulky Fast Port connector we've been complaining about for years is now gone, so you'll be able to use your own headphones. The bundled headset is of the hard plastic earbud variety and doesn't impress: what happened to the great headset that comes with high-end Walkman-branded handsets?

Around the other side you'll find dedicated buttons for both still and video capture. You also get a volume rocker than doubles as the (digital) zoom, which, as always, we'd recommend you avoid using.

The top of the handset sees a power/profile button, but it is awkwardly placed. Because of that fancy human design, we found ourselves powering off the phone with a wayward finger when gripping it for photos. Across the bottom of the screen are three buttons, giving you your calling buttons and finally the menu.

As mentioned, there is an 8-megapixel camera sitting on the back of the Vivaz, which is really the focus (excuse the pun) of this handset. Although pitched as a master of all trades, the Vivaz will be pushed very much as a camera phone, not just because of the 8MP camera, but also the ability of capture HD video at 1280 x 720 pixels, at 24fps. A microSD slot lies under the back cover, coming with an 8GB card.

The front of the Vivaz is filled with the 3.2-inch 640 x 360 pixel resolution display. The resolution is reasonably high given the size of the screen, so your content can be very fine to look at. It is, unfortunately, a resistive touchscreen display, rather than capacitive which you'll find on the majority of rival smartphones, marking the Vivaz out as strictly mid-range.

We say things can look fine, because generally it doesn't. Running on the Symbian S60 platform, much of the look and feel of the menus will be familiar to past Sony Ericsson owners and it's frustrating to find fussy menus lying beneath everything. You'll find some decidedly low resolution characters used and a general lack of gloss on the interface. The gloss on the screen makes it tricky to view in bright sunlight however.

Dive into the phone and you are presented with five homepages by default. These swipe from side-to-side, offering your favourite contacts, Twitter, shortcuts and a media wallpaper browser. It means you can leave Twitter as your standby page, rather than having to open an application to catch up with people. This homepage is one of a selection of "themes" that you can apply and seems to be the most dynamic.

We say dynamic, but it doesn't offer you the sort of flexibility you'll find on many rival devices: you don't get widgets or the chance to drop shortcuts wherever you want them on the main central home page. You just get a wavy bar, which seems a waste.

You can edit the shortcuts page, however, to list the programmes you want to get to regularly, or add a shortcut for browser page. You only get 8 slots though, so use them wisely. Other features of the phone can be accessed by punching the menu button, which pops-up a familiar-looking 12-icon grid.

Applications hide in the Apps folder, with Facebook and YouTube getting a look-in here, as well as a funky spirit level. It also contains various other things that shouldn't be there, like the radio which you'd expect to find in Media. You also get the dubious Organiser section, which includes Google search (an app) and RoadSync, to hook up to your Exchange server for your email and calendar syncing.

Sony Ericsson users are probably familiar with this layout of applications so it might not present a problem, but it isn't as intuitive as it should be: it's too convoluted and fiddly to find what you want. When you get there, you'll find yourself needing double presses, or using the "select" option, that seems to be a hangover from non-touch devices. In short, the operating system is tired, fussy and could be much better.

This is all made worse by that resistive touchscreen display. The response is not fantastic and it will often not respond to presses. Text entry is something of a pain too, with the keyboard(s) not giving you the chance to bash out messages with any real purpose.

The keyboard will offer predictive text in T9 mode, but not in full QWERTY mode. The full QWERTY keyboard is not always available either, but that’s not such a loss: using T9 will often offer up predictive options which are easier to access than trying to bash out the whole word proper. Mini QWERTY is tiny and can only really be used with a stylus.

An accelerometer will switch you from landscape to portrait, but there is a delay whilst it does so. You can't switch in all applications or menus and you can't always enter the landscape QWERTY keyboard if that is your preference.

The browser looks pretty good, but is slow in action, despite using an HSDPA or Wi-Fi connection. There is no sign of multi-touch and navigating full pages doesn't have the smooth scrolling action you'll find elsewhere. Images do look good in websites though and you can have multiple pages open and a neat Back option that will let you scroll back through your history and punch up the page you want.

Twitter is rather basic and doesn't look great, with small text and seemingly no way of editing it. It also doesn't give you any options for posting pictures and links aren't live - you have to click through to a browser version to then follow up on pictures or links, which works against the grain of Twitter.

Dive into the camera and things take a change. The camera is intuitive and easy to use, with touch settings that let you make changes as you need them. You get touch to shoot, focusing where you touch; you get macro mode, panoramic shooting, face detection and so on. It is, perhaps, let down by the weak LED "flash" that doesn’t really help shooting in dark conditions, where slow shutter speeds lead to plenty of blurring, and image noise becomes a problem as the light drops.

In daylight, however, and the Vivaz is impressive. Shutter lag is less than you might expect from a phone. Focusing can take a moment longer than you might like, but switching to touch focusing can speed up the process of capturing the image you want. Colours aren't as vibrant as they should be and you'll see a lot of blow-out in bright conditions, but the results are very good for a phone.

Sharing is made comparatively easy, offering to send your images off, either by messaging, or to the Web. Blogger, Picasa and Facebook appear (although you have to log in separately, even if you've logged into the Facebook application) and you can add other services like Flickr. HD video can be sent direct to YouTube, but you can only send it over Wi-Fi – there is no uploading over the mobile phone network.

HD video is where Sony Ericsson really sees the Vivaz however, as this is their first phone to offer HD capture, giving you an MPEG4 at the end of it. It also features continuous autofocus. Put alongside the sort of video you get from a fully-fledged camcorder or DSLR with HD video and it lacks sharpness and detail especially in landscapes (macro isn't too bad), but the Vivaz does compete with some of the pocket camcorders out there, outdoing some in the focusing stakes. A neat pause feature means you can cut together scenes in the same file, as we did in the sample video below.

Sitting at the core of the Vivaz is a 720MHz processor, which is a powerhouse. It certainly handles the HD video, it's just a shame that the power can't make the operating system fly: it has a bigger engine than the iPhone, it has a bigger engine than many Android handsets, but it can't fire life into S60 or the user interface.

Media is handled in XMB style, which we like as it makes finding your music fairly easy. The speaker distorts at louder volumes and is a little tinny, headphones offer a better solution, of course, although irritatingly you can't change the volume of the music when the keys lock.

The battery life is average, offering 5 hours of talk time. If you are a great consumer of data, you'll find you have to charge it every night. As a phone it is okay, but still feels a little uncomfortable against the ear, despite the design.

Verdict:

There is no doubt that the Sony Ericsson Vivaz offers a lot. It punches well above its weight when it comes to video and photos, offering one of the best camera phones we've seen to date. It does suffer in low light, however, and the LED flash won't help you out too much, so don’t expect to get good results in a gloomy pub.

The tech spec sheet is well populated too, offering HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and so on, but all of this hangs on an operating system and user interface that isn't up to the job.

This leaves the Sony Ericsson Vivaz as a bit of a disappointment. Day-to-day use isn't the fun experience it should be. Things are unnecessarily fiddly thanks to the UI and the unresponsive screen.?

If you are a Sony Ericsson user and video capture appeals to you, then you might be really happy with the Vivaz. Those switching from other operating systems might find it too frustrating.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Vivaz 8 megapixels

                       

Sony Ericsson U5i Vivaz mobile phone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:13:01 +0000

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 7:13 am

NEWS: Android to get gesture recognition

Draw letters on your screen

Google has announced a new Labs application for its Android operating system. It's called Gesture Search, and allows you to draw letters on your touchscreen to search through content on your device. It works like the universal search - meaning that you can sift through contacts, apps, bookmarks or music stored on the device. It's even clever enough to detect when a glyph is close to two different letters, and offer both of them up as options.

It's interesting to see Google experimenting so much with alternative input methods. The company has integrated voice input widely across its most recent Nexus One handset, and appears to be beginning to eschew the keyboard as a means of text entry. It'll only work on Android 2.0+ phones, though. That will put it out of reach of all but the most recent handsets available - the Hero, Magic, and G1 are all out of luck at the time of writing.

If you've got a 2.0+ Android device, and you'd like to install it, just head on over to the Android market, hit the search button, and type in "Gesture Search", then hit the download button. While some are reporting that it's only available in the US, we had no issues downloading it on a handset in the UK.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Android Google

Android to get gesture recognition originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:50:52 +0000

Posted on 4 March 2010 | 2:50 am

NEWS: Samsung Diva hits the shelves

Fashion handset comes with foundation and concealer

Samsung has announced that its "Diva" handset, the S7070, is now available from UK shops. It comes with a white embossed quilted back cover, and a diamond-shaped crystal button on the front.

There's heavy social network integration with MySpace and Facebook, and the 3.2-megapixel camera has a "beauty shot" mode where you can touch up images on the camera. There's also a Lomo mode, which adds various Lomography filters to pictures, which you can then share with your friends.

It doesn't have 3G, a touchscreen, or a 3.5mm headphone jack, but it does have video recording, an FM radio, a fake call option, Bluetooth 2.1 and support for SD cards up to 8GB in size.

It's a fashion-oriented handset, and so the Carphone Warehouse is offering a limited amount of free goodie bags with the phone that include cream-to-powder finish foundations and portable kits of mini concealers from Benefit. O2, on the other hand, is offering the first 8000 people who buy the phone a free 12-month subscription from iSUBSCRiBE.

Samsung says: "Samsung Diva?is the first mobile phone we have launched directly targeting young females. We know they want mobiles that are exceptionally stylish, but they also need the latest technology and practical features and our?Samsung Diva?won’t disappoint".

We ask "Why should gadgets have a gender?".

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Samsung Samsung Diva

Samsung Diva hits the shelves originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:12:38 +0000

Posted on 3 March 2010 | 5:12 am

NEWS: Microsoft: More Windows Mobile 6.5 phones to come

But hopes for upgrades to Windows Phone 7 series not looking good

Microsoft?has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it will continue to support its Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system for some time yet following the announcement of?Windows Phone 7 Series?at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

“We are proud of the Windows Phone experience we introduced with Windows Mobile 6.5 and we will continue to partner closely with mobile networks and phone manufacturers to support and invest in the platform", Oded Ran, head of consumer marketing, Windows Phone UK told Pocket-lint in an exclusive interview. "Windows Mobile 6.5 represents a significant part of the portfolio family that is Windows Phones.?With over 50 phones available around the world today, it offers customers the freedom to choose from among the widest selection of device form factors and price points”.

The comments come in a stark contrast to the admission from Steve Ballmer that the platform was merely an unfortunate stepping stone the company would rather have avoided.

All the same, this apparent support for a stylus-using system, which the very existence of the multi-touch 7 series brands as unfashionable, is?so strong that Microsoft has confirmed that new phones running the, now older platform, will be released this year:

“We expect to introduce new phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 to the Windows Phone family in the coming months”.

But what about current handsets? In the last week there has been a lot of confusion from various spokespeople at Microsoft being quoted over whether or not some Windows 6.5 devices will be upgradable to Windows Phone 7 Series.?

“We've received many questions about the upgradability of HTC HD2 and we currently do not have plans to update the HTC HD2 to Windows Phone 7 Series”, Ran told us, hoping to draw a line in the sand over the will they or won't they question, before going on to say.

“For Windows Phone 7 Series we are enforcing a strict set of hardware requirements to ensure a consistently great experience for end-users and developers...we cannot confirm that Windows Mobile 6.5 phones that satisfy those requirements will be upgradeable”.

The comment could suggest that while the HTC HD2 is out of the running, hypothetically, if a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone was to be released before Windows Phone 7 Series, and it met the "Chassis" requirements on WP7S ie processor, three buttons, graphics chip, running 6.5, it could be eligible?

Failing to be drawn on the suggestion, what we do know is that according to Ran:

"Every Windows Phone 7 Series device will be upgradeable with improvements and features we deliver with subsequent Windows Phone 7 Series releases".

We will keep you posted.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series Windows Mobile HTC

Microsoft: More Windows Mobile 6.5 phones to come originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:10:55 +0000

Posted on 3 March 2010 | 5:10 am

NEWS: Skype for Nokia handsets makes it to the Ovi Store

Sony Ericsson could be next

Skype and Nokia have announced that a fully fledged version of its Skype app on the Symbian ^1 platform is available to download from the Ovi Store.

Although Skype has actually been available on?Symbian S60?devices in its beta version for some time now Wednesday's announcement brings it out of beta and suitable for those who don't want the worry of unproven software.

The Skype app will allow Nokia smartphone owners to chat away to other Skype users for free when out and about regardless of whether they're in a Wi-Fi hotspot or not.

"We’re seeing around 1.5 million downloads a day on Ovi Store now and believe that the Skype client for Nokia smartphones will have wide appeal to Symbian users", said Jo Harlow, senior vice president for smartphones, Nokia, hoping that the new app addition will lure people to the company's handsets.

The Skype mobile app will apparently also be available on other manufacturers' devices soon, including Sony Ericsson.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Skype Symbian Ovi Store VoIP

Skype for Nokia handsets makes it to the Ovi Store originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:37:40 +0000

Posted on 3 March 2010 | 3:37 am

NEWS: BlackBerry Slider spotted in spy shots

With hardware QWERTY

A new handset from Canadian phone manufacturers RIM may be in the offing, if spy shots are to be believed. The images, dug up by BlackBerry fansite bbleaks.com, show a phone with a similar form factor to the BlackBerry Storm, but with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out at the bottom - Palm Pre-style.

There's the usual green, red, back and menu buttons, as well as what appears to be a light/proximity sensor next to the top speaker. In between the buttons is an optical trackpad. BBLeaks reckons that this could be the Storm 3, but others are suggesting that it could just be a prototype that may not make it to market.

If it does make it to market, it'll be interesting to see if it features OS 6.0 - the next version of the BlackBerry platform, which comes with a webkit browser, and - finally - fully functional GMail integration. We've contacted BlackBerry for further confirmation, and will update the post if we hear any more.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones BlackBerry BlackBerry Storm RIM Rumours

BlackBerry Slider spotted in spy shots originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:49:25 +0000

Posted on 3 March 2010 | 2:49 am

NEWS: Apple sues HTC over 20 iPhone patents

Jobs: "Competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours"

Apple has announced that it's suing HTC on 20 counts of patent infringement, all of which relate to the iPhone, its user interface, its underlying architecture and its hardware. Android isn't mentioned in the press release, indicating that the interface reference in the lawsuit perhaps relates to HTC's Sense UI.

There's a quote from Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, who says with characteristic frankness: "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours".

This might just be Apple trying to get the wind up its competitors who are thinking of building iPhone-esque handsets with Android on instead, or it might be something more serious. It might, of course, just be a way to try and get HTC to hand over some of the cash in patent licensing. We'll update you when we hear more.

UPDATE: HTC has returned volley as expected:

“HTC is a mobile technology innovator and patent holder that has been very focused over the past 13 years on creating many of the most innovative smartphones. HTC values patent rights and their enforcement but is also committed to defending its own technology innovations. HTC only learned of Apple’s actions this morning via media reports, and therefore we have not yet had the opportunity to investigate the filings. Until we have had this opportunity, we are unable to comment on the validity of the claims being made against HTC.”

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Tags: Phones Patents Apple HTC Android iPhone Lawsuits Biz

Apple sues HTC over 20 iPhone patents originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:20:51 +0000

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 8:20 am

NEWS: Orange and T-Mobile will operate for 18 months at least

Customers shouldn't fear change just yet

Orange?and T-Mobile?have said that they plan to run the two companies for at least 18 months after the merger goes through according to a statement.

"The T-Mobile and Orange UK brands will continue to operate in the UK for at least 18 months after the completion of the transaction".

The news may go some way to alleviate fears customers may have had over the merger and how it would impact on them.

First announced last year, the European Commission has finally given a green light to the move allowing the two companies to merge in the UK. Following the merger, the new joint venture company will be market leader in the UK mobile market serving 29.5 million customers.

The deal will see 25% of the 1800MHz spectrum offered up to competitors to expand mobile broadband, and 3 being allowed to use another 3000 mast sites to bulk up its 3G network.

Tom Alexander, currently CEO of Orange UK will become the CEO of the new company while Richard Moat, currently CEO of T-Mobile UK will take on the role of chief operating officer.

Tags: Phones Biz Orange T-Mobile Mergers

Orange and T-Mobile will operate for 18 months at least originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:26:05 +0000

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 4:26 am

NEWS: Motorola Milestone heads to Carphone Warehouse

Contracts start from ?35

The Motorola Milestone?has made it out of Expansys and on to the high street with the news that it will be stocked by Carphone Warehouse.

The news, which should help the phone become a little more mainstream in the UK means that you'll be able to get the Android 2.0 handset that is the UK variant of the?Motorola Droid?for under ?50 with a contract.

Depending on your budget, the Carphone Warehouse is offering the Millestone on 12-, 18- and 24-month contracts from ?35 a month on the Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile networks.

The Milestone goes on sale at Carphone Warehouse stores on Tuesday 2 March.

Read our Motorola Milestone mobile phone review.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Motorola Motorola Milestone Motorola Droid Tariffs Orange Vodafone T-Mobile Carphone Warehouse

Motorola Milestone heads to Carphone Warehouse originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:57:57 +0000

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 3:57 am

NEWS: Nokia C5 candybar smartphone debuts

Company returns to more traditional form factor

Nokia has announced the launch of the Nokia C5, a new candybar smartphone.

The new model will sport the Symbian S60 3rd edition operating system and come with a 2.2-inch display and 3.2 megapixel camera.

Measuring 12m x 46 x 112mm high the small handset will come with a battery life of up to 12 hours talk time and the promise of 26 days on standby between charges.

Returning to a form factor that will appeal to many Nokia fans the new model will sport GPS, a microSD card slot and Ovi Maps, Nokia's free navigation software, already installed. A stereo FM radio and 3.5mm AV connector, and stereo speaker complete the package.

Available in white and warm grey, the Nokia C5 will be available in the second quarter of 2010 globally in Europe, Eurasia, SEAP, China and MEA.

The new phone will be the launch model for a new Classic (C) series of handsets compared to the?entertainment and media-themed X-series, business E-series and "high end" N-series handsets.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Nokia C5

   

Nokia C5 candybar smartphone debuts originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:07:10 +0000

Posted on 2 March 2010 | 2:07 am

NEWS: 3 CEO speaks out over Orange/T-Mo merger

"The need for action to address competition issues in the UK has never been greater"

Kevin Russell, chief exec of 3 UK, has started getting mouthy about the forthcoming Orange/T-Mobile merger, which was recently rubber-stamped by the European Commission. Despite getting access to a pile of new phone masts, he's still unhappy about the proposals, saying:

"The approval of the Orange/T-Mobile merger reduces the market from five to four, making it urgent for key competition and consumer issues to be addressed. These include the imbalance of radio spectrum holdings, penal mobile termination rates and a failed mobile number porting system".?

"It is critical that the Digital Britain proposals are passed to begin to address the radio spectrum issues and just as critical for Ofcom to act on mobile termination rates and mobile number portability if it is serious about the UK being a competitive market with true consumer choice".

"Customer friendly number porting is the basic platform for competition in the mobile market. UK consumers are alone in Europe in being forced to ask permission of their current operator if they wish to move their phone number to a new provider. The need for action to address competition issues in the UK has never been greater".

While 3, with its new masts, does reasonably well out of the merger, we can't argue too much against the more customer-friendly of Russell's proposals. However, attention in the Digital Britain bill has stayed firmly away from the mobile arena and the spotlight is on filesharing instead, so perhaps appealing to Ofcom is more likely. Either way, Orange-T is now a reality that everyone will have to deal with.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile phone industry Biz 3 Orange T-Mobile Mergers

3 CEO speaks out over Orange/T-Mo merger originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:55:13 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 10:55 am

NEWS: TomTom HDTraffic drives onto iPhone app

UK EXCLUSIVE: New features and still free for previous users

TomTom has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it has submitted a new version of its iPhone GPS app, version 1.3, to Apple for approval.

The new App, which should be available to download in a couple of weeks time will, says the company, come with a number of new features including its HD Traffic service as an in app purchase.

HDTraffic, which pulls data from a number of sources to help you avoid traffic jams on your route, will initially available in the UK, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium with France following shortly after.

The service, which will be based on users opting in to a subscription model, will come in daily, weekly, monthly and yearly packages with drivers able to buy the extra features via the app if they are stuck in a jam.

"You'll receive access to the traffic information within a few minutes of purchase", confirmed the company's product manager to Pocket-lint.

Another feature coming to the new version will be Google Local Search support to find points of interest nearby.

The new update will be free to anyone that has already purchased the app before.

TomTom has yet to confirm pricing for the HDTraffic subscription, however expect it to mirror the company's current offering for its dedicated units at ?8 a month.

Pocket-lint has been testing the beta version of the software for the last couple of weeks and will publish a review including all the new features and more in the next couple of weeks.?

?

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps iPhone apps TomTom GPS Car And GPS TomTom for iPhone

 

TomTom HDTraffic drives onto iPhone app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 10:00 am

NEWS: BlackBerry owners work longer hours

Or is it just because they are "slow"

If you've got a BlackBerry you're putting in 10 more days of work a year over and above your non-BlackBerry touting colleagues according to new research out on Monday.

While the smartphone will let you grab your emails wherever you are that also means that you are working wherever you are and that, says the company that carried out the survey, isn't fair.

But it's not just the super long hours you are putting in each week, but the stress as well.

According to the survey carried out by Nectar Business, 24% of those who carried out the survey complained that they feel stressed because they are always on call with a further 22% compelled to read work emails over the weekend.

The survey didn't seem to ask whether or not those same people were busy tweeting and playing games from their smartphone during work time.

Nectar Business carried out the research to mark the launch of its 2010 Small Business Awards.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones BlackBerry RIM Surveys

BlackBerry owners work longer hours originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:55:03 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 7:55 am

NEWS: Tesco VX1i party phone: who'd want one?

Five people who should check it out

Tesco claims that their VX1i?"party phone" is proving a popular choice with customers, who are attracted to its SIM-free simplicity. At ?18.99, it is a bit of a bargain, but you don't get much in the way of functionality.

A 450mAh battery gives you up to 5hrs of talk time and is charged via Mini-USB - the only connection on the handset. A small mono LCD display will give you a couple of lines of text, whilst a four-way controller gives you shortcut access to alarms, your calling list, address book and messages.

Tesco thinks it's a party phone. We think it can be so much more.?Who really needs the VX1i? Read on to find out.

?

The Party Goer

We're not sure what sort of parties the folk at Tesco go to, but you won't be snapping photos to post to Facebook on the VX1i as there is no camera, so it's likely to be some sort of illegal gathering. There's no music player either, but that doesn't matter: you're at a rave in a deserted warehouse, with bass blending your internal organs.

?

The Covert Operative

CIA and MI6 have a healthy budget, sure, but in these credit crunch times, flipping over to the VX1i for dead drops saves tax payer's money. Next time you're putting a phone in the hands of a professional killer to give him the "green light", before he crushes it under his heel, why not use the VX1i? Besides, you could always pretend the VX in the name refers to the nerve agent…

?

The Triathlete

Your other half is always hassling you to take your phone on those long morning runs and rides, but having your BlackBerry jumping around in a pocket on the back of your Lycra running pants is a pain in the arse. Enter the VX1i. It will cover you for emergency calls or text updates to your Iron Widow, without you having to worry about the bulk. You won't be tracking your progress as there is no GPS, or apps, but you've got a Garmin Forerunner, right?

?

The Kids

"You'll always be able to reach me". How many times has that been the killer sell in a kid's battle for the latest phone? Get your own back by giving them all they really need with the VX1i. They'll be able to call you for those late night pick-ups and text their friends, but may not look that cool at the school gates.

?

The Prone to Mugging

You live in a rough neighbourhood. It's not your fault, just a fact of life. You've had your phone stolen a couple of times and you are worried about your data. Fret not. Get yourself a VX1i and you'll worry no more. Sure, you might have your address book stolen, but with no online services plugged right in, you won't find miscreants putting pictures of their genitals on your Flickr stream once they've nicked your phone. They may decide they don't want it in the first place.

?

Still not convinced?

Is ?18.99 such a bargain? A quick scan of eBay shows up over 1000 handsets at the time of writing that are unlocked and ready to rock, including some classic pieces of hardware for around the same price. Yes, they have been used, but it's always worth looking. You might try looking around your house too, because you probably have an old handset somewhere, but it won't necessarily be as small.

Don't like the silly pictures? We've included a whole gallery below so you can see what you get for your money.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Tesco Tesco Mobile VX1i Party phone

                         

Tesco VX1i party phone: who'd want one? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:38:42 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 7:38 am

NEWS: LG Arena Max LU9400 brings Snapdragon to the party

Korea only for now, but next stop the world?

LG?has announced its first Snapdragon powered handset, in Korea, on Monday.

The new handset, the LG Arena Max LU9400, catchy we know, will be available later this month on SK Telecom in South Korea (LG home country) and sport the super fast Qualcomm chip. Although not the same as that found in the Nexus One from Google, it will be just as fast.?

With tech specs that include a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen display, finger-touch mouse, GPS, Wi-Fi, mobile TV (T-DMB), LG’s S-Class 3D UI, DivX support, HD video and a 5MP camera - this camera is unlikely to be a slouch.

Hopefully we will see the phone on sale in the UK, although no word as yet whether that is going to happen.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG LG Arena Max Snapdragon Qualcomm

LG Arena Max LU9400 brings Snapdragon to the party originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:59:27 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 6:59 am

NEWS: Conservative Party launches election iPhone app

Fan of the Tories - there's an app for that

The Conservative party has launched its very own iPhone app in an attempt to connect to the user of the popular smartphone in the run up to the general election in the UK.

The new app, which became available over the weekend, will inform you of the Conservative Party policies and news allowing you to get their view of the story.

Aside from policy information, there is a Call a Friend feature that lets you canvas your mates to voting the way you think they should, and a swing-o-meter game that lets you see what a percentage swing will translate into a Conservative win.

There is a donate page, however the page only gives ways of phoning up the party rather than an in-app purchase.

The app is free and available now.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps iPhone apps iPhone Conservative Party

Conservative Party launches election iPhone app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:21:19 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 4:21 am

NEWS: Vodafone price HTC Legend

From as little as ?25

Vodafone?has priced the newly announced HTC Legend?in the UK, being the first operator to do so.

Those keen to snap up the follow on to the HTC Hero will be able to do so for as little as ?25 a month with the handset costing just ?1.99.

For that you'll get 300 minutes a month, unlimited texts and three months free insurance.

If you're budget won't even stretch to ?1.99 for the handset?you can opt for the slightly more expensive ?35 a month tariff, but with 600 minutes and unlimited texts instead.

Vodafone is the first out of the gate with the new handset and is expected to put the HTC Legend on sale by the end of the month.

Read our?HTC Legend mobile phone - First Look review

Over the weekend word leaked out that the operator will be offering the?Google Nexus one?from April in the UK, although both Google and Vodafone are still officially claiming spring rather than a specific date.?

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Vodafone HTC HTC Legend Tariffs

Vodafone price HTC Legend originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:08:11 +0000

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 4:08 am

NEWS: Palm Pixi drops to $50 in US

$300 off original price

Sprint?has slashed the price of the?Palm Pixi?in the US down to $50 in an attempt to bolster sales of the entry-level webOS phone.

Originally priced at $349.99, the new Sprint price now includes an instant $200 off followed by a $100 mail-in rebate.

The news comes as Palm issued warnings?to Wall Street that it hadn't sold as many phones as it had hoped.

"Revenues for the quarter and full year are being impacted by slower than expected consumer adoption of the company’s products", the company said.

On Saturday the company released the latest version of its?webOS 1.4 to Sprint, O2 and Movistar?bringing video recording to the Palm Pixi and Palm Pre.?

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Palm Palm Pixi Sprint

Palm Pixi drops to $50 in US originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:36:55 +0000

Posted on 28 February 2010 | 3:36 am

NEWS: Microsoft shows off LG Windows Phone 7 Series phone

QWERTY keyboard touted

Microsoft?has shown off the first official hardware prototype for its Windows Phone 7 Series?due out later in the year.

The LG handset, which earlier reports?have suggested will hit in September, was whipped out by Microsoft while filming at the Engadget Show in New York.?

The new handset will sport a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen display.

In keeping with the?Windows Phone 7 Series chassis restrictions laid out by the Redmond-based company, the phone will also feature the soon-to-be-trademark buttons of Back, Windows, and Search.

Elsewhere Engadget are saying that it is just slightly thicker than an iPhone, it features a dedicated camera button and that there is a 5-megapixel camera on the back.

However with 7 months to go, you have to ask how much the specs and possibly design will change before launch. Will this be the first handset to launch? Will the specs change? Have your say in the comments below.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series LG panther

Microsoft shows off LG Windows Phone 7 Series phone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:09:21 +0000

Posted on 28 February 2010 | 3:09 am

NEWS: Google Nexus one coming to Verizon in March, Vodafone in April

Rumours leak out over availability dates

Two separate reports on the Internet over the weekend have dated the?Nexus One?from Google in the US and the UK with official carriers.

In the UK, The Telegraph newspaper is reporting that sources close to both companies have confirmed that the Android phone will be available via the Vodafone network in "April" roughly the same time as the HTC Desire is expected to go on sale.

Vodafone, who is still yet to officially say anything other than "Spring" has not commented on the rumours.

Meanwhile Neowin, is stating that, "Verizon?will release Google's Nexus One Android device on March 23 according to sources familiar with the matter".

The phone, which was spotted on its way through the FCC in the US with a CDMA chipset earlier in the week, is already available on the T-Mobile network with a 2-year contract, but customers and critics will agree a CMDA version will offer better connectivity and coverage via the Verizon network.

Users of course can already get the Google Nexus One direct from Google, but will have to pay over $500 for an unsubsidised version of the phone.

Check out our?Google Nexus One mobile phone review.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Google Nexus One Vodafone Verizon HTC

Google Nexus one coming to Verizon in March, Vodafone in April originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:27:11 +0000

Posted on 27 February 2010 | 12:27 pm

NEWS: Palm webOS 1.4 hits Sprint, O2 and Movistar

Palm Pre owners now get video recording

Palm has released the latest version of its mobile phone operating system for the?Palm Pre?and Palm Pixi bringing video recording to the phone.

The new OS which rolled out on Saturday should automatically come to all Palm pre handsets in the US, UK, and Europe.

The main focus of the new update will be adding the ability to capture, edit and share video. Users will also get YouTube or Facebook upload support built in and the ability to email or MMS their final footage.?

Elsewhere the Calendar, Phone, Messaging, and Email apps have all been enhanced says Palm with new features to simplify common tasks like being able to sort by date, sender, and subject in the email app.

Palm says it has also enhanced notifications with the LED in the gesture area now lighting up and pulsing if you have a notification.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Palm Pre Palm O2 Sprint Movistar Video

 

Palm webOS 1.4 hits Sprint, O2 and Movistar originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:53:57 +0000

Posted on 27 February 2010 | 11:53 am

NEWS: No Flash for Windows Mobile 6.5, says Adobe

Rumours that older Android handsets won't get it either

Flash 10.1 is set to bring a step change in the way that the Web can be interacted with on mobile phones, but the latest statements from Adobe indicate that Windows Mobile 6.5 users will be left out in the cold - only Windows Phone 7 owners will be able to use Flash 10.1.

Adobe's Antonio Flores said: "We have made the tough decision to defer support for that platform until WinMo7. This is due to the fact that WinMo6.5 does not support some of the critical APIs that we need". While that won't win the company many fans among the Windows Mobile community, it pales into comparison compared to what's rumoured to be in store for Android users.

It's being reported that certain Android handsets - those without an ARM v7 Cortex chipset - won't be able to download Flash 10.1 either. That's the vast majority of Android handsets out there, with exception of the Nexus One, Motorola Droid and upcoming HTC Legend and Desire. Adobe wouldn't be drawn on the truth in this statement, however, saying: "All Android devices that meet our minimum s/w and h/w requirements will be supported.? Unfortunately, I cannot say a lot more publicly about our port to the Android platform at this time".

Flash 10.1 will be showing up in the middle of 2010 on most platforms with the exception of the iPhone. Apple has protested that Flash drains the battery too much, so won't be supporting it, but Adobe has fought back with a video claiming that is not the case.

Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Software Adobe Flash Windows Mobile Windows Mobile 7 Android Rumours

No Flash for Windows Mobile 6.5, says Adobe originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:49:30 +0000

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 8:49 am

NEWS: O2 SIM only iPhone tariff offered

Tariff shake-up across the board

O2?has announced that it will be offering a SIM-only tariff for the iPhone?on Friday for those who presumably have found either Vodafone?or Orange?to be no good.

Following in the footsteps of Vodafone's SIM-only announcement earlier in the month, the new SIM-only for iPhone offer will include Visual Voicemail, unlimited text messages, data and Wi-Fi from just ?15 per month.

Customers who already have an?iPhone?or are just happy with their existing smartphone can choose from a range of SIM-only tariffs starting at just ?15 per month for 300 minutes, unlimited UK texts, data and Wi-Fi on a 12-month SIM-only contract, or from ?20 per month on a 30-day rolling contract says the company.

The company has also launched a set of tariffs offering unlimited UK calls, texts and data from just ?45 a month.

iPhone customers who want to use their iPhone as a modem can do so and not pay more than ?2 per day with O2’s newest Internet Tethering Bolt On.

The new move is part of a bigger shake up of the operator's tariff packages that sees new pricing structures for non-smartphone handsets, and its mobile broadband range.

Non-smartphone customers who are happy to keep their current phone can choose from a range of SIM-only tariffs starting at just ?10 for 100 minutes per month with unlimited texts on a 30-day contract.

Vodafone introduced new SIM-only price plans at the beginning of February that it said were "great for iPhone customers".?Available from ?25 a month they offer Vodafone's "unlimited" texts (subject to a fair usage policy), 1GB data and BT Openzone Wi-Fi access.?

You can check out the latest handset and tariff deals for the iPhone via our new mobile deals website.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple iPhone O2 Vodafone Orange Tariffs

O2 SIM only iPhone tariff offered originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:15:39 +0000

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 8:15 am

NEWS: Palm CEO writes "survival" letter to employees

Details reasons for disappointing times

Palm?CEO Jon Rubinstein has elaborated on the company's?announcement that the company wasn't doing as well as it had hoped with a letter to all Palm employees.

In the letter, the CEO states that the latest launch of the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus on Verizon Wireless hadn't gone as smoothly to plan as hoped, and that the company is now wheeling out a backup plan to help improve the situation.

The good news for the M&A "vultures" that are surely circling, is that the company has a war chest of over $500 million in the bank, something that will sweeten the deal or, as Rubinstein hopes, allow them to survive the storm.

The letter in full:

"Team,

This morning we announced preliminary results for our 2010 third quarter. Since the quarter has not yet closed, it is too soon to offer exact numbers, but we stated that we expect to report revenues for Q3 between $300 and $320 million. We also announced that we expect our revenue for this fiscal year to fall below the guidance we gave to Wall Street, which ranged from $1.6 to $1.8 billion. As we mentioned in our press release, our softer than expected performance is due to slower than expected customer adoption of our products, which in turn has prompted our U.S. carrier partners to put additional orders on hold for the time being. On a positive note, we expect to exit the quarter with over $500 million in cash on our balance sheet. We’re scheduled to announce our full financial results in March.

I realize this news is difficult to swallow. We made this announcement today to prevent a surprise for Wall Street when we announce quarterly earnings in March. In the meantime, the entire executive team has been working extremely hard to improve product performance, and have implemented a number of initiatives to increase awareness and drive sales.

Dave Whalen and I just returned from a very successful meeting with Verizon Wireless, where they acknowledged that their execution of our launch was below expectations and recommitted to working with us to improve sales. To accelerate sales, we initiated Project JumpStart nearly three weeks ago. Since then, nearly two hundred Palm Brand Ambassadors, supplemented by Palm employees from Sunnyvale, have been training Verizon sales reps across the U.S. on our products. Early results from the stores have already shown improvement on product knowledge and sales week over week. You may have also seen a growing number of Palm ads on billboards, bus shelters, buses, and subway stations—all getting the word out about Palm.

All of these efforts are examples of how we are working to accelerate adoption and grow distribution of webOS. In the next few weeks, your management will work with you to make sure your priorities are laser-focused, primarily on helping to increase sales, improve product quality and differentiate the Palm product experience.

Our goals are taking longer than expected to achieve, but I am still confident that our talented team has what it takes to get the job done.

We’ll schedule an all-hands meeting after our earnings announcement in March, and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

Go team!!!

jon"

What do you think Palm needs to do to survive? Have your say in the comments below.

Read

Tags: Phones Biz Palm

Palm CEO writes "survival" letter to employees originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:42:38 +0000

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 3:42 am

NEWS: VIDEO: Verizon HTC Incredible caught on spy camera

Unannounced phone turns up in bad video

While the UK is still getting over the news that they'll be getting not one, but two new Android powered handsets from HTC?in the next couple of weeks, US HTC fans are still in the dark about when they will get their "fill".?

That "fill" could be the HTC Incredible, which has been rumoured for some time and now caught on video camera (if you could call it that).?

The video, which isn't in focus or even focused on the phone for most of the video (see above), looks to feature a big screen, the now familiar HTC pre-production number set on the touchscreen display and the new Sense UI announced at Mobile World Congress.

What we can also tell from the video is that the dude filming things is "hot", it will be running Android 2.1 (unsurprisingly) and that it will sport a camera on the back (5-megapixel no doubt).?

As to when it will be hitting Verizon?in the US is still anyone's guess, but if someone, somewhere is being shown working prototypes, we can't imagine it will be too long now.?

We will keep you posted.?

?

Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC HTC Incredible Rumours Verizon Video

VIDEO: Verizon HTC Incredible caught on spy camera originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:01:03 +0000

Posted on 26 February 2010 | 3:01 am

NEWS: Nokia crushes Ovi Maps on Android rumour

Bad translation

Nokia has crushed rumours surfacing on Thursday that it will be rolling out its new Ovi Maps to Android or Windows Mobile sporting phones.

Blaming bad translation from the Austrian newspaper Die Presse, Nokia has issued the following statement:

“Earlier this week, an Austrian journalist asked Greig Williams, GM of Nokia’s operations in the Alp regions, if Ovi Maps would be available on Android in the future. Greig’s response (in English) ‘We don’t comment on future plans’ was inexplicably translated into German as: ‘That will be the next step’. Of course, once we pointed out the error, the journalist corrected their article”.

It seems Android fans looking to get free satnav on their phone will either have to get Android 2.0 and live in America to get Google Maps Navigation or look for other alternatives.?

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Ovi Maps Nokia Android

Nokia crushes Ovi Maps on Android rumour originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:41:38 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 4:41 pm

NEWS: Daily news roundup: Virgin Media 100Mbps broadband, Palm in trouble and more

Links to the biggest stories of the day in one place

Want to know what's been hot in the world of technology and gadgets today?

In the news roundup today Gmail gets the top spot as it gives its Google Labs area a bit of a spring clean to make way for new content, whilst Virgin Media has declared that it will be bringing 100Mbps broadband to everyone on its network - we'll wait and see on that one.

We also bring word of Heritage Key recreating Stonehenge within its virtual world, which might well be worth a look, and as Palm gets ready to release its latest earnings report on 18 March, the chief executive officer for the company gives a statement that it's not looking good.

Meanwhile, photos are coming in thick and fast from Barcelona Winter Event 2010 with hands-on shots of the Philips 360Sound SoundBar and Philips Fidelio DS9000 iPod dock and we have a First Look at Twitter for Blackberry. Here are the top stories from the last 24 hours.

NEWS:Gmail adds features, retires others
NEWS:Virgin Media confirms network wide 100Mbps broadband by 2011
REVIEW:Twitter for BlackBerry - First Look
NEWS:PHOTOS: Philips 360Sound home theatre and SoundBar
NEWS:O2 fires back at Vodafone in battle for Best UK network title
NEWS:Heritage Key recreates Stonehenge online
NEWS:Immersion wants our phones to be even more touchy feely
NEWS:PHOTOS: Philips Fidelio DS9000 iPod dock
NEWS:Palm bubble bursts, as consumers fail to buy into Pre and Pixi

Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness

 

Daily news roundup: Virgin Media 100Mbps broadband, Palm in trouble and more originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:39:34 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 11:39 am

REVIEWS: Google Nexus One mobile phone

Would Philip K Dick be proud?

Philip K Dick can rest happily in the knowledge that his legacy is safe. Despite complaints from his descendants, Google hasn't done anything to smear the Nexus One name, which it shares with the Androids in Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". If anything, the search giant may even have given it greater status with a new generation who aren't as familiar with the book.

But let's start at the beginning. The Nexus One we're talking about here isn't a robot - it's a mobile phone created, marketed and sold by Google with a little help from HTC. It runs the company's Android OS, and - like every other high profile handset that gets released - has been labelled as an "iPhone Killer". But the big question is - can it stand up to the waves of hype?

A 3.7-inch AMOLED multi-touch touchscreen, running at a luxurious 480 x 800 pixels, is the centre of attention. That's 252.15 pixels per inch - a very respectable density that ensures that circles on the screen actually look like circles - not like jagged approximations. It's clear, bright even in sunlight, and video content looks fantastic with a 100,000:1 contrast ratio. There's a sliding scale to adjust the brightness, or an automatic option will read ambient light and set it accordingly - we found that it aimed a little low here, but does has the benefit of saving battery life.

The rest of the outside of the Nexus One is plastic. There's a mechanical trackball at the bottom, which comes in handy while editing text but rarely otherwise. Above that are four touch-sensitive areas of the screen that serve as back, menu, home and search buttons. There's a volume rocker on the side, a power button on the top next to the 3.5mm headphone socket, and a Micro-USB charging socket on the bottom. Also on the bottom are four connection points for the Nexus One's accompanying dock - more on which shortly.

It feels solid in your hand, but it doesn't look amazing. It doesn't look as good as the iPhone does. Without turning it on, it won't blow away people who see it and don't know what it is. We're not saying that it looks terrible - it doesn't - it merely looks functional, and that's not quite good enough. The Nexus One bears more in common with typical US smartphone design than it does to HTC's other Android models - all curved edges everywhere, in the same way that the CDMA Hero looks rubbish compared to the GSM one. Maybe it's just that we miss the chin.

Inside, the brains of the operation is Qualcomm's 1GHz QSD 8250 Snapdragon ARM processor. It's mightily fast. If you're upgrading from a previous Android phone, like the Hero or Magic, or even an iPhone 2G or 3G, then you'll find it to be hugely more responsive. If you're upgrading from an even older device, you'll be blown away. It's not perfect - there's the occasional split-second of lag - but it's as fast as we've seen on a phone to date. It's pretty much equivalent to the excellent iPhone 3GS in zipping around web pages, viewing photos, or just navigating menus.

It comes with 512MB of internal memory, and a 4GB microSD card for storage. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of Android you can't store apps on the SD card - they have to sit in the memory, meaning that you're entirely likely to run out of space if you go crazy downloading extra content. This is a problem, but not one that's exclusive to the Nexus One, which actually has more storage than most of its Android competitors. The microSD slot can take cards up to 32GB, if you want to go crazy loading music onto it.

Unlike previous Android versions, the music player on the Nexus One is actually rather impressive. It looks great, it's intuitive, and if you don't like it you can always download one that you do like - a key advantage of Android over the iPhone, which refuses to allow third-party music apps, browsers and other apps that Apple provides out of the box. The Nexus One's camera and photo browsing apps are considerably improved over previous versions of Android too.

While this isn't a review of Android itself, it's worth mentioning a little about the platform for those who aren't too familiar with it. Android is a platform built by Google which is free for manufacturers to put on phones. The idea behind it is to considerably improve the experience that consumers get on their phones so that they use mobile web more. More people using the mobile web means more people being displayed Google's adverts - which is how the company makes its money from Android.

The company has therefore tried to create the best experience it possibly can, and has done a good job. If you're a user of Google's suite of web apps - calendar, mail, contacts, etc, then you'll find everything instantly set-up for you. Even if you're not, it's trivial to get your email and information synced, and stored in the cloud. The device needs little backing up, because everything is kept on Google's servers. The only exception is images taken with the camera - which you'll need to back up manually.

But while Android's experience is excellent, far beyond most of its competitors, it's still a little more complex to use than the iPhone. While it has a number of sizeable benefits over the iPhone - multitasking, Flash compatibility, much more customisation of the UI - the trade-off is that it's not as simple to use for technophobes. You might want to think twice before recommending an Android device to your Grandma.

Going back more specifically to the Nexus One, it runs version 2.1 of Android. Some have criticised the Android platform for rolling out so many phones, so quickly, that any device you buy is relatively obsolete within 6 months - such is the pace of development. With many phone contracts lasting 18 months or more, getting stuck with a handset that's rapidly made redundant can be frustrating - just ask the legions of HTC Hero owners who haven't been updated from Android 1.5. That might be a consideration for you, especially with the HTC Desire on the horizon, looking to snatch the crown of top Droid Dog from the Nexus One.

Some have claimed that the Nexus One is inferior to HTC's other handsets because it doesn't come with HTC's Sense UI. That's not true. While Sense is great, we didn't especially miss it in the Nexus One - the most recent version of Android has fixed a lot of the problems that Sense had previously patched up, with the sole exception of the keyboard. HTC's Sense keyboard is far superior to the default Android one. We really missed being able to long-press keys to get punctuation, rather than having to switch to a different set of keys entirely.

We should mention a couple of other issues too. For some reason, the Nexus One doesn't like WEP encryption on Wi-Fi. It's fine with open networks, and it's fine with WPA, but if you try and get it to connect to WEP, it'll try and get an IP address for a while before declaring, poignantly, "Failed". There doesn't seem to be a way around this, except to change your router to WPA encryption instead. Though, that's not a bad thing - it's relatively trivial to crack a WEP connection, so you should opt for WPA-2 if you have the choice.

Also, our handset - ordered from the US - didn't come with any network settings preloaded, meaning that you'll need to track down the right servers yourself to get 3G and MMS capabilities on your handset. You should be able to call up your network to get them, but it's an extra step of hassle that you'll want to be prepared for before your handset arrives. Of course, if you pick one up with a contract from a network, you won't have that issue.

The camera has a 5-megapixel sensor, with support for video in 720 x 480 resolution. It has an LED flash and autofocus, as well as the ability to control white balance and add colour effects. Test images taken were adequate, if a little flat, in good light - with plenty of detail visible in macro shots. In darker environments, the flash proved a little too glaring, and shots with flash turned off were noisy and underexposed. In short, it's not going to replace a real camera, but it'll do in a pinch.

Call quality was great - we had no problems hearing anyone in our testing, and they had no problems hearing us - even in noisy environments. The Nexus One actually has two microphones - one on the back - to reduce background noise during phone conversations with a voice processor, and this seems to work well.

There's an optional dock you can purchase with your order, which allows you to charge the device while keeping it upright and in front of you. When you plug it in, it automatically starts a clock application which has the time in big bold letters, the weather, battery life, alarm status and shortcuts to music, pictures and the normal homescreen. There's also a button on this screen to turn off the backlight, so you can have it by your bed as an alarm clock. The dock has a 3.5mm jack connector, and when docked it'll play through that instead - allowing you to hook it up to your stereo.

We found the 1400mAh battery's lifespan to be about equivalent to competitors in our testing - about a day. You'll need to charge it every night. We had hoped that the OLED screen would get a little more juice out of the battery, but it seems like that juice has been directed elsewhere instead - probably at the 1GHz processor. Happily, the battery is fully removable, so if it conks out then you can get a replacement relatively easily.?

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Verdict:

The Nexus One is almost everything that you could want from a mobile phone. There's a lack of imagination in terms of its physical design, a few niggling bugs like the WEP support issue, and the keyboard that doesn't quite touch HTC's Sense one. But on the other hand, it scores points over competitors for its effortless multitasking, its flash-equipped camera and its lightning-fast speed, as well as its deep integration with Google's suite of apps.

Android is one of the best mobile platforms in the market, rivalled only by Apple's iPhone, and the implementation on the Nexus One is the best that's available in the market at the time of writing. Google has a few problems to solve - the pace of devices being released is too fast, the HTC Desire already looms, and there's a real risk of the Android ecosystem being splintered by the failure of manufacturers to roll out updates for existing handsets.

But none of that takes away from the achievement that is the Nexus One, and what an achievement it is. Philip K Dick would be proud.?

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Related links:

• Buy it! - Google Nexus One

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Google Nexus One HTC Android

                 

Google Nexus One mobile phone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:34:08 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 11:34 am

NEWS: Skype pulls Windows Mobile app

Just not good enough

Skype has announced it has pulled the Skype and Skype Lite Windows Mobile apps over concerns that they don't offer a great "Skype" experience.

The move, announced on the company's blog will be a huge disappointment for Windows Mobile users who've yet to get the app, however makes zero difference to those currently using it as Skype has confirmed that it won't be disabling the service altogether.

"As part of our continual review of our mobile range, we’ve decided to make a few changes to our lineup. Skype Lite and Skype for Windows Phones are no longer available for download. This isn’t a decision we’ve taken lightly, but the reason is simple. Neither of these apps offered a great Skype experience", said Skype.

"With the latest version of the Windows Mobile OS, it’s been increasingly challenging for us to maintain an app which behaves as you’d expect on a wide range of handsets without working with a mobile operator partner", claims the company.

Users who are struggling with the app, are says Skype, "aware of its limitations".

We are awaiting comment as to whether or not the company will be developing a Skype app for the recently announced Windows Phone 7 Series handsets.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Skype Windows Mobile

Skype pulls Windows Mobile app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:57:02 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 9:57 am

NEWS: 73% of Android owners are male

Platform overtakes Symbian in worldwide mobile web usage

Mobile advertising company AdMob, which was bought by Google back in November, has published its monthly metrics report, containing a host of statistics about the phone industry right now. Surveying 963 respondents, the survey found that a whopping 73% of Android device owners are male, compared to 57% for the iPhone and 58% for the Palm Pre.

Also, it was found that 65% of iPod touch owners are 17 or younger, compared with 13% of iPhone users and just 2% of Palm Pre owners. That suggests that it's the preferred option for teens who can't afford a full-on iPhone, but still want to play with apps. Speaking of apps, those iPod touch owners download an average of 10.5 free apps and 1.6 paid apps per month.

91% of iPod users said that they'd recommend their device to others, compared to 84% of Android owners and a paltry 69% of webOS users. Global smartphone web traffic is owned 50% by Apple, but Android has just taken the edge from Symbian, at 21% compared to 19%. RIM is next with 5%, followed by webOS and Windows Mobile at 2%. Android's marketshare is much bigger in the US - at 39%.

In Britain, though, the iPhone rules the roost - with 79% of mobile web users owning one. Android keeps second place, at 10%, followed up by Symbian at 7% and RIM at 3%. Similarly, Apple have 80% of the handset market, with HTC at 8%, Nokia at 6%, and RIM and "Others" both at 3%. The top 5 phones accessing the mobile web in Britain, in order, are the iPhone, the iPod touch, the HTC Hero, the HTC Dream and the Nokia N95.

There's oodles more statistics if you're curious, like the fact that mobile web traffic in the Phillipines is owned 89% by Nokia, but we'll stop there for now. To access the full report, head over to AdMob's blog or just download the PDF report.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Statistics Android iPhone iPod Touch Apple

73% of Android owners are male originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:31:33 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 9:31 am

NEWS: Palm bubble bursts, as consumers fail to buy into Pre and Pixi

Struggling sales mean forecasts revised downward

The Palm?Pre?was supposed to be the company's knight in shining armour, but it looks like after the initial wave of excitement from the US, consumers have failed to embrace the phone with the same gusto.

Palm has issued a statement which says that earnings are unlikely to be as good as it thought they would be. The cause of the miscalculation? In Palm's words:

"Revenues for the quarter and full year are being impacted by slower than expected consumer adoption of the company’s products".

In "you and I speak" that means people just aren't buying the?Palm Pre?and the?Palm Pixi.

“Palm webOS is recognized as a groundbreaking platform that enables one of the best smartphone experiences available today, and our work to evolve the platform and bring industry-leading technology to market continues. However, driving broad consumer adoption of Palm products is taking longer than we anticipated”, said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer.

Palm, who was struggling to survive in the tough world of smartphones before it launched the Palm Pre has said that it will be announcing its latest earnings report on 18 March.?

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Palm Palm Pre Palm Pixi Biz

Palm bubble bursts, as consumers fail to buy into Pre and Pixi originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:48:30 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 8:48 am

NEWS: LG Windows Phone 7 Series handset in September?

Chinese whispers

LG could be the first out of the gate with a?Windows Phone 7 Series?handset as early as September according to sources in Hong Kong.

Engadget Chinese is reporting that an LG is saying a new handset running on the newly announced Microsoft mobile OS is expected sometime between September and November this year.

Microsoft's official line to date has been "The Holidays" so while it fits in with that timeline an actual date is still anyone's guess.

LG in the UK told us they "can't confirm any timings for the launch of the phone".

We will keep you posted.

?

Related links:

• Via - Engadget.com

Tags: Phones Mobile phones LG Windows Phone 7 Series Rumours

LG Windows Phone 7 Series handset in September? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:27:36 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 5:27 am

REVIEWS: Twitter for BlackBerry - First Look

RIM has a stab at Twitter love

If Twitter is your thing there are no shortage of apps to choose from. BlackBerry users have a smattering, with various pros and cons, but the best known is likely to be Twitterberry or Ubertwitter. Seesmic has launched its own BB app, looking to capitalise on the popularity of its desktop application, whilst others might choose to pay for a solution, such as TweetGenius, hailing from the BlackBerry scoop gurus at Boy Genius Report.

It's not surprising to see RIM launch an official Twitter app - deftly called Twitter for BlackBerry - but you can't help but wonder why it has taken so long. Ours is not to reason why, simply to have a First Look at the closed beta of the forthcoming app and let you know our thoughts.

A quick download and install, Twitter for BlackBerry has a polished look to it that some lesser applications lack. Control is based around a menu bar across the top of the screen, offering up your home timeline, @ "mentions", profile, messages, find people, search and popular topics, or "trending topics" as you might know it.

You can scroll back and forth between these different areas at your leisure, but you'll probably spend most of the time in your home timeline. Your timeline presents Tweets in your default font size and there is no way of changing it to make it larger or smaller, so the amount you see on the page will depend on your settings.

Each Tweet is accompanied buy a thumbnail image, and clicking on a Tweet will bring up more information. You'll get the app it was sent from as well as a number of details about the person who posted – number of Tweets, followers, etc, right down to bio and location, if available.

If a person has used hashtags, you can click on that tag to search it out, or click on links and other @users who have been mentioned. It will also indicate whether the Tweet was a reply to someone else and you can click through to get the history of that conversation, which is great for filling in the gaps and stringing things together.

Image previews are also available, but it will depend on the image service that the poster used, TwitPic images are previewed. Posting your own image is simple enough, with a camera icon giving you the option of using the camera or uploading an existing image.

You can also send to Twitter direct from a picture viewed through the gallery, handled more elegantly than some rivals, with a pop-up Twitter box to enter your accompanying message.

Direct messages are rather elegantly handled, integrating into your inbox and giving you the normal red star indicator. In the past we always found that an alert email would appear faster than our DM stream would refresh, so we depended on the email to keep track of direct messages. With the messages appearing in your inbox from the app, you no longer need the email alert duplicates.

If you are a heavy user of direct messages on Twitter then it is a great system and one that is certainly worth checking out when Twitter for BlackBerry comes out of closed beta. If you don't like this level of integration it can be disabled in Options.

Searching for works rather well, letting you run a keyword search which you can save, so if you want to keep track of a particular topic or brand, you can do so easily. Searching in this case returned "internal Twitter server" problems, but we'll keep trying it and see if we have any luck.

Twitter for BlackBerry will also give you the option of running a spell check before you send out a Tweet, so if you are prone to mis-keying then this will be the end of that. Again, you can elect whether to run spellcheck or not; if you use lots of abbreviations you might choose to ignore it.

Refreshing seems a little random to us. We've been using Twitter for BlackBerry for a couple of weeks now and noticed that although it is set to update every 5 minutes, it will often be out of date when we return to the application. Sometimes a "new tweets are available" message is displayed, sometimes we have new Tweets. It all seems a little random. A Refresh option lurks in the menu, so if you want to force an update you can.

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Verdict:

Twitter for BlackBerry offers a higher level of integration than some of the rival packages do, so it fits more naturally with how we expect a BlackBerry application to behave. The spell checker and ease of adding a photo we really like and the amount of information you get on who is posting these messages is welcomed.

Occasionally it can be a little slow to navigate around things, although it doesn't collapse like Twitterberry is prone to doing when you've had no reception. Refreshing could be cleaned up, but on the whole we like BlackBerry's official application for Twitter and for those that don't want to fork out cash for their apps, it's well worth a try.

Tags: Phones Mobile phone applications BlackBerry RIM Twitter Twitter for BlackBerry First look

           

Twitter for BlackBerry - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:27:23 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 4:27 am

NEWS: O2 fires back at Vodafone in battle for Best UK network title

Tit-for-tat spat continues

In what is fast becoming a tit-for-tat public spat, O2 has retaliated to?Vodafone's comments about it being the best UK network according to research carried out by O2.

After Guy Laurence, CEO Vodafone UK said to us on?Wednesday?that “This week’s independent study by O2 is a welcome endorsement of Vodafone having the best network in the UK." O2's Chief Technology Officer Derek McManus has come back with the following:

"Ambitious claims are made about network speeds but the situation is far from clear cut. Accurate information and transparency are crucial in helping customers make sure they get the best from their mobile network".

“We commissioned this survey to make sure no one is misled. O2 offers faster speeds in many cities, and other operators in others".

"We offer an industry-leading 14 day happiness guarantee, so if customers are not happy with the speeds they're getting, they can bring the device back. We urge customers to use coverage checkers before they purchase a phone or mobile broadband dongle”.

The independent network speed test by SIRODA found?O2 and Vodafone came out top in a national network speed test. The test showed that while it came out top overall against T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and 3 when it came to downloading music on the go, the operator lost to Vodafone when it came to general Web surfing.

What do you think about the two operators gunning it out in public? Who do you think has the better network? Let us know in the comments below.?

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Tags: Phones Vodafone O2 Mobile phone industry

O2 fires back at Vodafone in battle for Best UK network title originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:08:02 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 3:08 am

NEWS: Immersion wants our phones to be even more touchy feely

MWC 2010: Debuts new haptics sensor

Immersion, the company that specializes in technologies that make your mobile phone buzz has revealed a new "HD" sensor that promises to give you more feedback than ever before.

Called haptics, the company that already has their technology in over 100 million handsets from makers like Samsung, LG and Nokia, is hoping the latest iteration of its technology will allow developers and manufactures to give even more sensory feedback to how we use our phones in the future.

"Immersion's TouchSense 5000 solution takes haptics to a new level of fidelity by enabling high-definition haptic effects", a spokeswomen for the company told Pocket-lint. "That allows us to increase range, strength and precision".

That increased range, strength and precision means that the new system will allow developers to replicate fine movements of the sensors to give the user the sensation that they are actually interacting with the something other than a touchscreen.

One example is with the haptic feedback, which convinces users they are typing on an old-fashioned typewriter keyboard rather than a touchscreen with no keys at all.

Another example is a game that sees the side of the phone vibrate when something is bounced off it; by isolating the effects to only vibrate the touchscreen rather than the whole phone or device.

Immersion says the new technology will be in handsets by the end of the year.

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Immersion MWC2010

     

Immersion wants our phones to be even more touchy feely originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:01:45 +0000

Posted on 25 February 2010 | 2:01 am

NEWS: Nokia VP: N97 was tremendous disappointment

UI blamed, despite good sales

Nokia VP of markets, Anssi Vanjoki, has laid his heart bare about the N97's failings in a frank interview with fansite AllAboutSymbian at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The senior exec said that the interface on the device was "a tremendous disappointment" - something we concurred with in our review of the handset

More specifically, he said: "it has been a tremendous disappointment in terms of the experience quality for the consumers", despite healthy sales of the handset. The company has solved some of the problems through firmware updates, but Vanjoki said that it "has been an unbelievable cycle of things for us, that has taken far too long to repair and mitigate".

The company has promised to sort things out in Symbian^3, with many lessons learnt for both the platform and the devices on it. Vanjoki said: "We have taken the learnings and when Symbian^3 comes out you can rest assured it will be perfect". We'll see when the devices come out.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Nokia N97

Nokia VP: N97 was tremendous disappointment originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:15:06 +0000

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 9:15 am

NEWS: AT&T gets Desire, Sprint gets Hero2

HTC Legend renamed for the US market

While HTC is staying coy about the HTC Desire and HTC Legend making it outside of the UK for the time being, that hasn't stopped sources coming forward to suggest that AT&T and Sprint will be getting US variants in the near future.

According to mobile site Boy Genius Report in the US, their "connects" inside the two companies claim that AT&T will be getting the HTC Desire at the same time it gets the Nexus One from Google. Getting the usual "customized" feel to the handset (they've been told colours) it will bring the Sense UI from HTC to the network for the first time.

Meanwhile the Legend, which is a follow-on to the HTC Hero launch last year, is expected to go to US operator Sprint, which as it happens already stocks the Hero. According to BGR the device will go under the Hero2 moniker in the States. While no release dates have been set, it took some time for the Hero to reach the US from the UK last year, suggesting a similar timeframe could be possible.

We will keep you posted.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile phone industry AT and T Sprint HTC HTC Legend HTC Hero 2 HTC Desire

AT&T gets Desire, Sprint gets Hero2 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:43:02 +0000

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 3:43 am

NEWS: Vodafone thanks O2 for naming it best UK network

It's about to get ugly

Vodafone?has moved in to mock UK operator O2?after it commissioned a survey that found Vodafone the better operator.

“This week’s independent study by O2 is a welcome endorsement of Vodafone having the best network in the UK. We’re seeing continued high demand for our range of smartphones, including the iPhone, driven by customers enjoying a great experience from our outstanding network”, says Guy Laurence, CEO Vodafone UK

Earlier in the week O2 commissioned an independent network speed test by SIRODA, however while winning out against T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and 3 when it came to downloading music on the go, the operator lost to Vodafone when it came to general surfing the Web.

The move by Vodafone is only likely to enrage O2 as the two battle it out to prove who is the best operator for the latest smartphones.

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Tags: Phones Vodafone O2 Mobile phone industry

Vodafone thanks O2 for naming it best UK network originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:19:56 +0000

Posted on 24 February 2010 | 3:19 am

NEWS: Windows Phone 7 Series hardware details surface

Three chassis, only one for launch

Further details have surfaced about?Microsoft's newly announced?Windows Phone 7 Series,?thanks to a podcast from two Microsoft Australia employees.

In the weekly show called Frankly Speaking, Michael Kordahi and Andrew Coates from Microsoft Australia give a weekly update on the tech goings-on in the world with a special focus on Australia and Microsoft.

What's special about this week's show is that they talk about Microsoft's new operating system for mobile phones, first launched at Mobile World Congress, and about the hardware specifics being set out by the chaps at Redmond.

According to the part fact, part predicted comment, the two state there is likely to be three chassis designs (compared to the 45 for Windows Mobile) allowed for new handsets hoping to offer Windows Phone 7 Series.

Chassis one will have specs that mean any handset will have to feature a big touchscreen, a 1GHz processor (presumably Snapdragon) and a dedicated graphics chip to cope with all that movement on-screen.

Chassis two will be phones that are allowed to feature a pull-out QWERTY keyboard, while chassis three, which is yet to be confirmed, is likely to be a candybar design.

The duo, having possibly outlined Microsoft's stringent hardware approach to the new OS ahead of schedule, also imply that only chassis one will be available for launch later this year, suggesting that the reference model shown by Microsoft for the demos at Mobile World Congress (pictured above) could be more in line with what we will see towards the end of the year.

We will keep you posted.?

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Related links:

• Via - all about Microsoft

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series

Windows Phone 7 Series hardware details surface originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:34:40 +0000

Posted on 23 February 2010 | 4:34 pm

NEWS: Sony Ericsson Vivaz up for pre-order

With 8.1-megapixel camera

Vodafone has announced that you can now pre-order Sony Ericsson's Vivaz handset from its website. It's an S60 device which comes with a 3.2-inch touchscreen and the ability to capture 720p HD video with 4x zoom from an 8.1-megapixel camera on the back.

It's also got HSPA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, and DLNA certification. It comes with an 8GB microSD card, and on the top there's a 3.5mm jack for plugging in your own headphones. It measures 107 x 52 x 12.5mm and weighs in at 97g. On the software side, it comes with Sony Ericsson's PlayNow offering, complete with the company's homegrown media player.

You'll be able to pick it up free on a 24-month Vodafone contract at ?30 per month. That'll get you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and mobile internet. If you want to get your hands on it, then head on over to Vodafone's website, pre-order, and it should be delivered by 9 March. It comes in silver or red.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Vivaz Symbian

Sony Ericsson Vivaz up for pre-order originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:47:49 +0000

Posted on 23 February 2010 | 9:47 am

NEWS: Tech deals: Virgin Media offers EU Internet on the cheap

Broadband abroad

If you're a Brit travelling in Europe and enjoy the odd bit of surfing (we're talking the internet kind not the? wave) then it could be music to your ears that Virgin Media has a new set of mobile internet and mobile broadband "EU Travel Passes" available.

Basically, if you already access the Internet through Virgin Media then, when abroad, you simply send a message via SMS, and Virgin will hook you up.

For mobile internet (access via mobile phone) you'll be charged ?4 for a 1-hour pass and ?6 for 24 hours, whilst mobile broadband (access via dongle) will be charged in terms of data usage - 1 day (?10 for 10MB), 3 days (?15 for 15MB), 7 days (?30 for 30MB) and a 30 day pass (?60 for 60MB).

This service should mean a degree of flexibility when travelling abroad without the fear of being stung with a whopping bill on your return.

For full details you can visit www.virginmedia.com.

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Tags: Software Phones Roaming Mobile internet Virgin Media Daily Tech Deal

 

Tech deals: Virgin Media offers EU Internet on the cheap originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Posted on 23 February 2010 | 6:00 am

NEWS: Nokia, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola continue to lose ground to Apple

New research shows Apple and Android handsets gaining

New research has found mobile phone firms are continuing to lose ground to Apple in the mobile phone space.

According to Gartner, while Nokia is still the biggest handset maker in the world, it, like others, has lost further market share in 2009.

But Nokia isn't the only manufacturer to lose ground in 2009. Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG all lost market share to their competitors following the lack of a "hero" product, while Samsung seems to be the biggest winner gaining 3% following strong performances from sales of handsets like the i8910.

The figures released also showed the battle of owning a smartphone OS even more clearly with Symbian mirroring Nokia's slip in market share. It has dropped 5.5%, while Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS dropped 3.1% compared to 2008 figures.

As expected the winners, according to Gartner, are Android and the iPhone who both saw healthy gains in 2009:

"The two best performers in 2009 were Android and Apple. Android increased its market share by 3.5 percentage points in 2009, while Apple's share grew by 6.2 percentage points from 2008, which helped it move to the No. 3 position and displace Microsoft Windows Mobile," says Gartner.

The battle continues.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Apple Samsung LG Nokia Gartner iPhone Android Symbian

Nokia, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola continue to lose ground to Apple originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:50:37 +0000

Posted on 23 February 2010 | 3:50 am

NEWS: Apple's sex ban made official

Response to increasing number of objectionable apps

Apple's ban on the Wobble iBoob app has been extended to cover more than 5000 others which the company claims contain "objectionable content" - objectionable content that was deemed fine for months beforehand.

Apple says that it has responded to complaints from users, with Philip Schiller, Apple's product marketing boss, telling the New York Times that recently a number of developers had submitted "an increasing number of apps containing very objectionable content". It's not clear exactly what that content was, and the App Store already contains an age rating system.

"It came to the point where we were getting customer complaints from women who found the content getting too degrading and objectionable, as well as parents who were upset with what their kids were able to see", Schiller added.

Developers are predictably miffed. "It’s very hard to go from making a good living to zero", said ?Fred Clarke who makes an app called Sexy Scratch Off. "This goes farther than sexy content. For developers, how do you know you aren’t going to invest thousands into a business only to find out one day you’ve been cut off?". He added that he was now investigating rival platforms.

Those rival platforms include Google's Android ecosystem - which also looks down on adult content, but takes a much lighter approach to enforcement. An identical app to Wobble iBoobs called AndWobble is available on the Android Market at the time of writing. BlackBerry has also investigated an age ratings system, whilst Symbian and Windows Mobile have no restrictions.

Have you lost your favourite app in the great iPorn purge of 2010? Or is this the right approach for a company that's selling its products to an increasingly family-oriented audience? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones iPhone apps App Store Apple

Apple's sex ban made official originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:39:26 +0000

Posted on 23 February 2010 | 3:39 am

NEWS: Wagamama app lets you order chicken katsu curry from your iPhone

Never have to read a menu again

'Wagamama has followed Pizza Hut and launched a new app that lets you order dishes straight from your iPhone.

Supposedly based on the same ordering system as the waiters use in the restaurants (no not drawing numbers on your placemat) the new app lets you select your nearest Wagamama restaurant, place and order and then state a time when its ready to collect.

Rather than go to an ordering house that then in turn sends it to the restaurant in question, Wagamama says the selection is automatically "transmitted straight through to the kitchen".

You can then pay via your phone before running down to the restaurant to no doubt grab your weekly dose of chicken katsu curry.

To download the wagamama app, iphone users can visit the itunes app store and search for "Wagamama".

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps iPhone apps Wagamama

Wagamama app lets you order chicken katsu curry from your iPhone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:50:28 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 10:50 am

NEWS: Sky News app hits Android

Google phone users get BREAKING NEWS

Sky News has followed its iPhone app launch with one for the Android platform allowing Google phone fans to get all the "breaking news" as it happens.

Those keen to see what's happening without just firing up their browser can get all the latest deets about the top stories, UK news, sport, politics, business, world news and showbiz news.

Hoping to make you into a tipster, you'll also be able to send Sky News stories and pictures (Peter Andre walking down the street kinda thing) for possible inclusion.

"We are planning on releasing a number of different applications over the coming months, each of which will use the full capabilities that Android can offer", promised David Gibbs, general manager mobile, BSkyB.

The app hopes to build on the success of the company's iPhone News app, that has seen 1 million downloads so far.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Sky News Sky Android Android apps

 

Sky News app hits Android originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:09:05 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 7:09 am

NEWS: Orange/T-Mobile merger approved by EC

3 gets access to 3000 more mast sites

The European Commission has given the green light for T-Mobile and Orange to merge, with the proviso that 3 gets access to 3000 more mast sites across the UK. The news follows a cautionary note from the Office of Fair Trading, who said the deal: "threatens significantly to affect competition in mobile telecommunications in the UK".

Still, Europe had no such qualms, approving the deal following a last-minute compromise that'll see 25% of the 1800MHz spectrum offered up to competitors to expand mobile broadband, and 3 being allowed to use another 3000 mast sites to bulk up its 3G network. The European commission was satisfied that there would still be sufficient competition in the UK market once these concessions had been made.

While there's been much debate about what to call the new company - Torange? O-Mobile? - it seems like the newly conjoined twins will be raining on that particular parade. They say that they'll continue to use both existing brand names for the time being.

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Tags: Phones Biz Mobile phone industry Orange T-Mobile European Commission Mergers

Orange/T-Mobile merger approved by EC originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:51:05 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 5:51 am

NEWS: O2 and Vodafone come out top in national network speed test

Independent figures suggest O2 network problems are behind them

A new network speed test has shown that?Vodafone?is the fastest operator in the UK for accessing the web, while O2?wins for music downloads.

The new series of tests carried out by SIRODA, a company that test radio frequencies and capabilities, measured five UK operators in a 60 day period across 150 UK locations.

The tests measured mobile data connection speed at peak periods throughout the day to see which operator; Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange, O2 and 3 performed the best.

The tests show that in January 2010, Vodafone achieved the fastest web access speed outside London, however within London and O2 offered the fastest average web page access experience at 1.7 seconds, over 30% quicker than the slowest operator.

When it comes to downloading a MP3 file according to the data O2 is the fastest. It, says SIRODA, was the best in 12 out of 20 UK key cities and was second place in a further four more.

The news mirrors Pocket-lint's own tests at the beginning of the year where it found that O2 was the best operator for the iPhone in London at five locations around the city.

Data performance was measured by testing the time to access a webpage and the speed of downloading a typical music file. Tests were conducted between 10am and 10pm Monday to Sunday, replicating genuine user patterns. Cities covered included London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The survey methodology, commissioned by O2, was independently verified by BABT (British Approvals Board for Telecommunications). BABT also verified the results of the tests.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Vodafone O2 Orange T-Mobile 3

O2 and Vodafone come out top in national network speed test originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:56:07 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 4:56 am

NEWS: Pocket-lint is hiring

News editor role up for grabs

Do you have what it takes? Are you excited about technology? Then we want to hear from you. We are looking for a news editor for Pocket-lint to guide the news team to success.

Working from home rather than having to slug it into the office every day, we are looking for someone to lead our news team covering all areas of gadgets from digital cameras to mobile phones.

Working closely with the rest of the team, you'll be expected to have a strong contacts book, be available 5 days a week, be based in the UK (preferably London) and have access to a computer with internet connection.

What you get in return is cash every month (salary depending on experience), flexible working hours and the chance to be part of one of the biggest independent gadget websites in the UK.

Sound like fun? Then contact us via the feedback form on the site.

Tell us, in no more than 100 words, why you think we should give you the job, and all being well you could be running the news team by the end of the month.

Good luck!

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Tags: Audio Car And GPS Dad Gadgets Gaming Hardware Home And Kitchen Home Cinema Phones Cameras Software Sports Fitness Pocket-lint

Pocket-lint is hiring originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:49:59 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 4:49 am

NEWS: Sky TV app arrives for Nokia handsets

Watch live Sky Sports on your phone

Sky and Nokia have announced that they've built an application that'll allow you to watch Sky Sports on your Nokia handset, and that it's available in the Ovi Store now. The app also offers remote recording and the ability to check Sky News and Sky Sports headlines.

The list of compatible phones is relatively short, for the time being. It'll work on the?Nokia N97, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800?XpressMusic, and Nokia 5530 - just four handsets. Nokia promises working versions for the?Nokia 5230 and X6 will be created "shortly", but in the meantime if you don't have one of those devices you're out of luck.

David Gibbs, Sky's general manager for mobile, told Pocket-lint: "We’re delighted to be working with Nokia to give millions more people the chance to enjoy TV on the move.??The success of Sky Mobile TV has shown there’s a real appetite for innovative services that allow customers to choose when and where they watch".

The app is available now in the Ovi store, and it's free.?

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Symbian Ovi Store Nokia Sky Mobile TV Sports Fitness Football

Sky TV app arrives for Nokia handsets originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:35:04 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 4:35 am

NEWS: HTC Desire's software leaks

Turned into a ROM for the Nexus One

Quick work by the modders in the Modaco forums has seen a leak of the HTC Desire's ROM already turned into a working (albeit a little unstable) ROM for the Google Nexus One, which adds HTC's much-loved Sense UI to the handset.

Another useful addition is that of Adobe's Flash 10.1 - meaning that a full release of the plugin for Android might not be too far off. The ROM isn't intended to be run full-time on your handset, but just as a preview of the kind of functionality that'll be available when the device comes to market - due in March.

If you want to give the ROM a try on your Nexus One, it'll need to have its bootloader unlocked, be rooted, and then you can follow the guide posted on Redmond Pie. It's not the most simple of tasks, and you run the risk of bricking the thing, so we advise a large helping of caution if you're not the most technical-minded of persons.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Software HTC HTC Desire Software updates Nexus One

HTC Desire's software leaks originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:50:00 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 3:50 am

NEWS: Nokia X10 to be next Symbian^3 handset?

Mid-level device leaks in YouTube video

Despite a near non-presence at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - occupying just a tiny booth in a corner - Nokia seems to still have some tricks up its sleeve. If leaked release documents are genuine, the Finnish phone-maker seems to be preparing for the release of the Nokia X10.

In a video, now removed from YouTube but re-uploaded by German phone site "BestBoyz" in a non-embeddable form, the form factor, specs, and operating system details for the handset have been revealed. It looks to be the next Symbian^3 device, following the N87 or N8 - whatever it ends up being called.

The device, according to the video, has a 3.2-inch capacitive AMOLED touchscreen, along with a 5-megapixel camera with Nokia's usual Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash. It also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 600Mhz ARM Cortex A8 CPU, 32/16GB internal memory, 256MB of RAM, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS. It'll have multiple auto-rotating homescreens, too.

Oh, and while the name - X10 - fits in with some of Nokia's other devices, it could mean that the summertime phone market gets a little confusing.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Nokia X10 Symbian Rumours

Nokia X10 to be next Symbian^3 handset? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:58:52 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 2:58 am

NEWS: Video chat hints found in iPhone 3.2 SDK

Conferencing functionality coming?

In the latest iPhone SDK - a collection of resources used by developers to build applications for the platform - hints have been uncovered that strongly suggest that a future version of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch may arrive with video calling functionality.

The files are found in the TelephonyUI.framework directory - indicating that they consist as part of the interface for the functionality. They're titled "AcceptVideo_SatFeb20_s1...2010.png" and "DeclineOrEndVideo_SatFeb...2010.png" and the icon shows a video camera of some sort. Within the apps, there's also reference to "VideoChat" in the UI.

As 9to5Mac points out, it's possible that this code has been brought over from Mac telephony products, but it would be unlikely that icons would have been created and compressed into the SDK if this wasn't planned to be appearing in the iPhone or iPad at some point. It matches up nicely with front-facing camera rumours, too.

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Tags: Software iPhone iPad Phones Mobile phones Video conferencing Rumours

Video chat hints found in iPhone 3.2 SDK originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:21:50 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 2:21 am

REVIEWS: Sony Ericsson Satio mobile phone

Can this merge the Cyber-shot and Walkman brands together?

Sony Ericsson has always had different streams for its phones that focus on one key element in attempt to win over any competition. There was the Walkman range for music and the Cyber-shot offering for photographers, but can the two merge successfully??

To cut a long story short and save you plenty of time there is only one good thing about the Satio: its camera.

The 12.1-megapixel sensor, a decent lens on the back of the phone that comes with its own protective sliding door, and the ease of use of the photography software (to a point) is the crowning glory here.

It takes the Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot brand and continues to run with it, building on previous K-series models to give you results that could have been shot with a compact digital camera.

The camera experience is helped in a number of ways: the dedicated shutter and zoom keys on the top, the fact that you are pushed into using it in a landscape rather than portrait mode and there's even a dedicated button to switch from still to movie mode and then there is the zippy shutter response time. This is a phone that wants to be a camera.

Packing more megapixels than most compacts and even older DSLR models, our test shots even on a gloomy day were impressive. The LED photo light and a Xenon flash are both helpful but not over-powering, the controls are handy and intuitive but not overly condescending.

Photos are shot as standard using a 9-megapixel resolution to benefit the widescreen display. Saving shots to the memory card is quick and we only noticed a lag when boosting that quality up to 12 megapixels.?

And then it all starts to go wrong. Video recording support only comes in the guise of VGA rather than HD, a big surprise. Sharing your images is surprisingly limited to email, MMS or Bluetooth.

Then you have to deal with the shockingly slow and poor operating system that you can see groaning at every touch of the resistive screen. At times it is so slow that you'll find yourself double pressing a menu option, which then leads you into another barrage of menus that takes forever to back out of.

The multimedia experience has been based on Sony's Xross Media Bar experience found in other Sony Ericsson handsets and more famously on the company's games consoles.

Press the media button and you get videos, music or photos, the ability to scroll through them (but not with multi-touch) and pick out your favourite tracks.?Music playback sounds good with the accompanying headphones; a good job as those will be the only ones you'll be using. Yep, there is no 3.5mm socket on the Satio.

The video section comes with YouTube and BBC iPlayer pre-installed as well as the ability to side-load your own content via a microSD card or the Sony Ericsson PlayNow online store.

The 16:9 ratio wide touchscreen display is crisp and glossy, but the internal processor just not beefy enough to cope. The phone struggled to even playback footage we recorded with the camera.?Our variety of tests found that the BBC iPlayer was too demanding, struggling to buffer its way through a episode of "So you think you can dance".

That lag that hangs around the multimedia features carries on through to every asset of the phone, with the Symbian operating system constantly having to think about the task at hand rather than snapping right to it. You press, it thinks, you eventually get what you are after.

Elsewhere there is the usual array of games pre-installed, an FM radio and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. The user interface is the usual grid offering with a smattering of shortcuts sitting on a home screen. The real estate is heavily underused and you'll end up trying to find a decent wallpaper in an attempt to feel better about the whole affair.

There are an array of keyboard offerings to help you master text input - with a landscape QWERTY keyboard being the best. There is a mini QWERTY keyboard setting which we hoped would be like the BlackBerry Pearl keyboard, but no - it's just the QWERTY one even smaller. Failing that, you can turn your hand to handwriting, but we would not recommend this. While it could easily capture most letters, those with two or more elements to it like "t" or "k" were impossible to write.

And then there is the design of the Satio. To say that it's fat would be an understatement.?You can't even blame the camera, well you can, but while the lens and accompanying lens cover make it chunkier than it should be, the bottom end of the handset isn't much thinner. In fact we've seen digital cameras thinner than this phone.

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Verdict:

Yes the Sony Ericsson Satio takes a great picture, but a phone isn't just a camera, it has to do so much more than that and that's something Sony Ericsson has forgotten.

The Satio is a smartphone that is neither smart, or really a phone.

One to avoid.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Satio

                                         

Sony Ericsson Satio mobile phone originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:49:49 +0000

Posted on 22 February 2010 | 1:49 am

NEWS: i-migo Bluetooth security gadget promises to keep your phone safe

MWC 2010: British gadget should stop you from losing stuff

A new Bluetooth gadget that aims to protect your phone from being lost or stolen has been shown off at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

The device, called the i-migo, can be paired to your mobile phone waiting to alert you if it goes wandering, however it falls short of doubling up as a Bluetooth headset for making calls.

Once your phone leaves a set perimeter and the Bluetooth connection is lost, an alarm will sound on the i-migo while your phone is automatically locked so nobody can access the data.

But rather than just being a crime deterrent, the system has been designed to help those who forget things in the back of a taxi. If you do leave your phone behind an alarm will sound alerting the driver to your incompetence.

The makers, pdd, says the locking technology isn't hackable even by taking the battery out and the only way a criminal could get the phone working again is to "flash" the operating system deleting your data in the process.

The company is hoping to launch the device later in the year with apps for Symbian, BlackBerry and Android handsets. An iPhone offering is unlikely to be on the cards as the phone can't multitask.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones pdd i-migo MWC2010

   

i-migo Bluetooth security gadget promises to keep your phone safe originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:58:45 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 6:58 am

NEWS: ASBOrometer app launches for the iPhone and Android

How anti-social is your neighbourhood?

A new iPhone and Android app has launched that takes government data on ASB statistics and presents it to consumers in an easy-to-consume map-based format.

In other words, the ASBOrometer will tell you just how many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have been handed out to your neighbours, or in other geographical areas.

"ASBOrometer measures levels of anti-social behaviour at your current location and gives you access to key local ASB statistics", reads the official blurb for the app, currently available for free on the App Store with data good for England and Wales.

Creator Jeff Gilfelt, 31, told The Telegraph: "Although its name is fun, it has a serious message". Gilfelt sees the app as useful for house buyers who can get an idea of the scale of anti-social problems in any given area.

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Tags: Phones iPhone apps App Store iPhone Asborometer Android Android apps

ASBOrometer app launches for the iPhone and Android originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:28:25 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 6:28 am

NEWS: Helping you find the best mobile phone deals

New area on Pocket-lint does the work for you

We like mobile phones at Pocket-lint; we like them a lot, but with so many deals how can you wade through the array of offers available from operators in the UK like?Vodafone,?Orange,?O2,?T-Mobile?and 3?

Our answer? We've teamed up with the chaps at Recombu to bring you Pocket-lint mobile deals, so whether you're after the HTC Hero?or the iPhone 3GS we'll be able to find the best deals and offers on the Web.

What that means for you is that you'll now see the best deals from the operators at the bottom of our mobile phone reviews and First Looks, as well as the ability to search our mobile deals area for the hottest contract deals and the best pay as you go offers. And for those of you who want to buy their own handset without a contract, we'll have the best handset deals?as well.

So if you're in the market for a new mobile phone, check out our new mobile deals section and you could be saving money and sporting a new phone in no time.

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Related links:

• Link - mobiledeals.pocket-lint.com/

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Apple Nokia Samsung LG Toshiba Sony Ericsson Palm Motorola BlackBerry Vodafone Orange T-Mobile O2 3

Helping you find the best mobile phone deals originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:06:01 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 6:06 am

NEWS: TomTom iPhone car kit gets ProClip option

A fixed dashboard mount rather than windscreen sucker

TomTom is offering a new option with its iPhone car kit with the availability of a ProClip mount just announced.

The original TomTom car kit for iPhone has a windscreen mount, the new car kit for iPhone, however, screws onto a vehicle-specific ProClip mount that is fixed on the driver's dashboard.

"This lets drivers choose a permanent location that works best for them, with no need to reposition it for each journey", says TomTom, stating that the ProClip option is designed for "demanding drivers".

As with the original, the new car kit gets a GPS booster, and a built-in microphone so users can make and answer phone calls while driving. There's also an audio out connector that lets drivers play their music over their car stereo.

The ProClip car kit for iPhone is available in pre-order as of today at www.tomtom-proclip.com priced at ?99.99. ?

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Tags: Phones iPhone accessories TomTom Car And GPS Car gadgets GPS TomTom Car Kit iPhone

 

TomTom iPhone car kit gets ProClip option originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:27:21 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 4:27 am

NEWS: iPhone's 3G download limit upped

From 10MB to 20MB

If reports coming in are correct, Apple has raised the maximum file size that can be downloaded over a 3G connection before it demands that you hook your handset up to a Wi-Fi network instead. The limit appears to have been raised from 10MB to 20MB.

The idea behind the limit is to preserve Apple's precious user experience - the company didn't have the confidence that data networks could cope with large downloads and people actually making use of their "unlimited" data tariffs. Now, though, it seems that apps, podcasts and songs above 10MB but below 20MB can be downloaded with no problems.

Wired.co.uk says that the limit has been upped on an O2 phone, and we tested a Vodafone iPhone - we were able to download an app above 10MB, but a podcast over 20MB didn't work. If you've got an Orange or Tesco iPhone handy and fancy running some tests, let us know the results for your network in the comments below.

Perhaps this reflects new confidence in data networks from Apple, believing that the problems of O2's network back when the iPhone was gaining popularity fast are gone. Our recent testing certainly suggested this may be the case, even if the network isn't perfect yet.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones iPhone Apple 3G Downloads

iPhone's 3G download limit upped originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:03:47 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 4:03 am

NEWS: Amazon launches Kindle app for BlackBerry

But only available in the US

Amazon has launched a Kindle app for BlackBerry smartphones that means owners of the RIM-made handsets in the States can use their phones as ebook readers for Amazon's platform either as a standalone ereader or Whispersyncing it with their Kindle device.

"Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available today", said Ian Freed, VP, Amazon Kindle.

"Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way for customers to continue reading their current book wherever they are - in between meetings, at the grocery store or waiting in the doctor’s office. We think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on their BlackBerry".

Customers using BlackBerry devices on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and other US carriers can now access over 420,000 Kindle books by downloading the application for free over at www.amazon.com/kindlebb.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Amazon Kindle BlackBerry BlackBerry App World

 

Amazon launches Kindle app for BlackBerry originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:57:12 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 2:57 am

NEWS: Apple bans boobs from App Store?

New guidelines seem to be rolling out

The developer of an iPhone application got a chilling email from Apple over the weekend - the kind that all developers dread. It told him that his app - "Wobble iBoobs" - was being removed from the App Store due to a policy change to remove "sexual content". More specifically, it said:

"The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs (Premium Uncensored), contains content that we had originally believed to be suitable for distribution. However, we have recently received numerous complaints from our customers about this type of content, and have changed our guidelines appropriately".

Later it added, "We have decided to remove any overtly sexual content from the App Store, which includes your application". A number of other applications seem to have been removed, including "Exotic Positions" and "Sexy Women". However, a few other apps that are most definitely rated R are still present. All still require the user to confirm that they're over 17 before you're able to download them.

Apple hasn't made a statement on the matter, but these are applications that have been present on the app store for some time without issue. Is it fair to whip out the rug from under these developers without warning, wasting the time they spent developing them? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Tags: Phones iPhone apps Apple App Store Rumours

Apple bans boobs from App Store? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:54:31 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 2:54 am

REVIEWS: Samsung Wave mobile phone - First Look

Badass?

Samsung spared no expense in launching the Samsung Wave at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona this week. From the billboard advertising that leaked the new phone before the formal event, to the event itself and the magnitude of the showfloor stand, Samsung certainly wants people to know about the Wave. Fortunately we were on hand to tell you all about the new phone.

There's a good reason why Samsung is making a big deal out of the Wave: it's the company's first handset that runs on its new Bada platform. Creating an ecosystem to surround your mobile phone handsets is serious business and with a growing interest in mobile gaming and applications, this is potentially what will define the success of the handset. Longevity will depend on providing the flexibilities and freedom of choice that smartphone users demand.

But the Samsung Wave isn't just about the Bada platform. A big part of it is about the hardware. It seems a fitting follow-on to some of the praise we lauded on the Omnia HD/i8910 last year - that screen was sensational, and the Wave is even better. The new Super AMOLED display is staggeringly sharp, with bags of contrast and deep blacks that really give your content definition.

It has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, which on a 3.3-inch screen is very impressive. The display also offers wide viewing angles and isn't prone to the high degree of reflections that some screens are. It incorporates some of the technology that Samsung are putting into their televisions. It certainly sets the bar high for others to follow.

Samsung have also opted for a "onebody" design, as did HTC with the Legend, meaning the phone can be compact but solid. It looks good and feels good in the hand.

The phone itself meets all your normal connectivity expectations and then some, with HSDPA/CDMA, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, digital compass, motion sensor and proximity sensors. This all sits on a 1GHz processor, making this a fully-fledged smartphone with some real power.

That processor and sharp screen means video content looks sensational and watching HD content at 720p poses it no problems. Format support looks good on paper too, with MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, Divx and XviD so it look like a mobile entertainment centre. We checked out some 720p demo content on the phone and it was staggering.

Around the back is a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. It will also let you capture video at 720p, so you could potentially fill the 2GB memory fairly quickly. Expansion is possible through the microSD card slot.

The OS might be new, but users of Samsung devices in the past will recognise some of the menus as you move around the phone. The TouchWiz 3 interface provides widgets and shortcuts that can be dropped onto the side-scrolling homepages, with an icon-based menu and pull-down area at the top of the screen. There is more than a dab of Android in the look and feel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Samsung has also taken note of the growth in demand for integration of social networks. Like HTC have done with Sense and Motorola with MotoBlur, Samsung offers to bring in all your contacts, giving you a "social hub" where the experience is centred around the person. It's great to see this level of integration, and something we'll be looking at in detail when we get a handset in to review in full.

The application offering looks fairly comprehensive too. There are all sorts of applications and features that are loaded into the device, with Samsung providing the framework for more. Again, we couldn't settle down to see exactly what was on offer, so we'll be seeing how competitive the app offering is in the future. Check out the Samsung Apps website, or take a look at the Chelsea FC app being shown off on the stand.

Samsung were showing off a wide selection of applications and functions of the phone at Mobile World Congress, from gaming to navigation, to its multimedia skills. The range certainly looked impressive, but we'll be looking to see whether we can do everything we want when we get it in for review.

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Verdict:

Samsung is treading a new path with the Wave: the phone showcases the new operating system well, but ultimately, the success of the phone will depend on how well supported it is by Bada developers. If you are locked into an 18- or 24-month contract, you don't want to find yourself unable to get the latest and greatest apps a year down the line.

The screen though is a triumph and one that, like the Omnia HD, will draw many to the phone. It looks fantastic and seems to be off to a strong start. Of course, we'll be putting it through its paces in the near future. The Wave will be hitting the shelves in April worldwide.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Samsung Samsung Wave Samsung S8500 First look MWC2010

         

Samsung Wave mobile phone - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:41:37 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 2:41 am

NEWS: Sony Ericsson asked to build Nexus One

CEO reveals company turned opportunity down

According to Swedish news agency Sydsvenskan.se, Sony Ericsson's president - Bert Nordberg - is claiming that Google asked it to build its flagship Nexus One handset, but that the approach was rebuffed.

Nordberg says that Sony Ericsson is committed to building only own-branded hardware, refusing to be a subcontractor to any other company. As previously reported at length, Sony Ericsson's X10 handset comes with Android 1.6 but still hasn't yet been released - it should be showing up in April.

After the snubbing, it seems that Google went back to long-term partners HTC to build the device, who offered the search giant a version of its just announced and very high-end Passion handset. That may have been a good thing, and it certainly didn't hurt either company, though some are beginning to argue that the pace of release of Android handsets is starting to get too much.

Was this a sensible move from Sony Ericsson - keeping faith in the strength of its own products? Or was it a serious own-goal, with the company handing a prize contract to a rapidly growing competitor? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Sony Ericsson Nexus One Android Google HTC

Sony Ericsson asked to build Nexus One originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:19:05 +0000

Posted on 19 February 2010 | 2:19 am

NEWS: PHOTOS: Samsung Monte S5620 hands-on

MWC 2010: Touchy feely with Monte

Samsung announced the Monte S5620 in the run-up to Mobile World Congress, freeing up our time at the show to get all excited about the Samsung Wave.

Monte is actually a family of devices, but at present, the only one coming to the UK is this one - the full touch variety S5620. There is also a Monte Slider and the Monte Bar, but for the time-being, we'll ignore them.

The Monte is actually rather cute and we like the neat design around the sides. This is pitched in as an affordable touch device for those who don't want to go the whole hog and jump up to the premium Wave.

The Monte offers you a pretty full package however, with a 3-inch WQVGA capacitive touchscreen display, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio and a microSD card slot to upgrade the memory.

A 3.2-megapixel camera sits on the back so you can snap away, although the video capture is a little disappointing at 320 x 240 maximum, and then only at 15 frames per second.

In our quick hands-on the screen was surprisingly responsive - it is capacitive where many would be resistive, so it's a nice phone to use. You don't get the freedoms you do on higher profile smartphones, but with social networking integration and a customisable interface, it looks pretty smart itself.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Samsung Samsung Monte Samsung S5620 Photos MWC2010

                         

PHOTOS: Samsung Monte S5620 hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:09:13 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 2:09 pm

REVIEWS: Motorola QUENCH mobile phone - First Look

MWC 2010: A thirst for Android

The Motorola QUENCH is a logical addition to the Motoblur family of devices and sees Motorola offer its first Motoblur device without a keyboard. It will be called the CLIQ XT in the US. We got our hands on the new device at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and this is what we thought.

It might be using the Android platform, but Motorola were insistent that this was a "Motoblur device" when we asked about the version of Android it was running. Perhaps that's because it is Android 1.5, rather than the 2.1 version that many of the recent releases are.

We picked Motorola up on this point and they confirmed that an update would be coming to the handset, but dependent on region and carrier. If firmware version is important to you, then this grey area might be something of a deterrent, for the short-term at least.

But that aside, the Motorola QUENCH looks like a serious handset. Moto are calling it a "tablet" which is potentially confusing, because the rest of us would call it a touchscreen phone. Rather than taking the svelte lines of something like the HTC Desire, the QUENCH is altogether chunkier.

It measures 59.4 x 116.7 x 12.3mm, weighs in at 123.5g, and offers a 3.1-inch screen, which is a little smaller than some of the more recent rivals. It has a 320 x 480 pixel resolution, so again, it doesn't pack the greatest punch here either.?

Beneath the screen you get the usual four controls for home, menu, search and back. These sit either-side of a central four-way controller. We didn't find any problem with the buttons, they are easy enough to hit when you need them and need a firm enough press to prevent accidental operation.

The rear of the QUENCH is rubberised, so it sits nicely in the hand, with a dab of texture that will stop it slipping out of your sweaty palm. There is perhaps an excess of bezel and looking into the screen feels a bit like peering into a hole in the ground - it doesn't have the wow-pop-punch that some screens do.

Sitting on top of the Android OS is Motorola's Motoblur, a comprehensive platform that pulls together your virtual identities and integrates them into the handset. It's a nice idea, perhaps a little overwhelming at times with one full fat stream of "Happenings" pouring out the front of the phone, but in principle it's a system we like. If you want to know more about MotoBlur, check out our review of the Motorola DEXT.

The QUENCH is a fully-featured smartphone however, and packs in all the connectivity you'd expect with HSDPA/CDMA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, compass, accelerometer, etc. You get a 5-megapixel autofocus camera around the back with an LED flash; video capture is present, but doesn't step into the realms of HD, offering HVGA at 24fps.

You get that important 3.5mm headphone jack too, as well as a dedicated camera button.

With any touch phone, the success is going to hang on the touch response and the everyday detail like how efficient text entry is. Motorola has turned to Swype to enhance their text input offering. Swype uses a system that lets you keep your finger in contact with the screen and move it around, effectively drawing a trace through the characters you want, rather than tapping each individual letter.

It's a system that you will have to master, as during our time with the phone we found that more difficult entries didn't work too well, but you also have to consider that these were demo units, the firmware might not be finalised and god knows how many other people had been fingering them. When we get the QUENCH in for a full review we'll be looking at this in detail.

From what we could tell though, the response from the screen was good enough in general use, and didn't seem to have any problem dealing with the normal application loading and switching, although is no comparison to having a device packed full of your own data and apps.?

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Verdict:

There is something of an elegance about the QUENCH. We don't find it as easy on the eye as the HTC Legend, but the design is interesting and will turn heads. We like Motoblur for the most part too, but it's the details of the touch experience that is going to define whether or not the Motorola QUENCH is a hot Android number, or gets lost at sea.

We will bring you a full review in the very near future.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Motorola Motorola Quench Motorola CLIQ XT Android MWC2010 Motoblur

                     

Motorola QUENCH mobile phone - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:19:44 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 1:19 pm

NEWS: LG predicts death of Symbian, BlackBerry, webOS

Rules out building its own operating system

Scott Ahn, head of LG's mobile business, has told a press conference that he thinks the smartphone market will increasingly consolidate - with the number of operating systems reducing to just three - iPhone, Android and Windows Phone - within a couple of years.

That would mean the effective death of Symbian, BlackBerry, Palm's webOS, Samsung's Bada, Maemo, and LiMo, as well as a number of smaller players. Of course, most of those platforms are only available on one company's handsets, which might be the reason for Ahn's predictions.

At the same time, Ahn ruled out making their own platform like rival Samsung, saying: "Our strategy is not to make an independent mobile platform of our own at least for the next two to three years. For a while, we will concentrate on Android and Windows Phone 7 Series by Microsoft".

"It is a competition of how to make an ecosystem that combines device, platform, contents and service. It is difficult for a single company to dominate the entire ecosystem".

Do you think the likes of Symbian and Maemo have a future? Or are they powerless in the face of competition from Apple, Google and Microsoft? Tell us whether you agree with Ahn or not in the comments.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Operating Systems Mobile phone industry LG Symbian BlackBerry WebOS Windows Phone iPhone Android Samsung Google Apple MWC2010

LG predicts death of Symbian, BlackBerry, webOS originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:23:41 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 10:23 am

NEWS: Binatone launches two new iDECT landline phones

C5i and X5i available now

Binatone has launched the iDECT C5i and iDECT X5i, two new home phones boasting "glossy midnight black finishes, slimline form and smooth modern edged corners".

The iDECT C5i is a slimline cordless phone with an ergonomically curved handset design while both models get Binatone's iSOUND tech, speakerphone mode, digital integrated answer machine, backlit keypad and LCD display.

Other features include a phone book, up to 10 hours talk time, caller display ID, 10 ringtone melodies and an eco mode. ?Available at Argos stores and other retailers, the C5i gets an SRP of ?44.99 and the X5i will cost ?39.99.

Tags: Phones Landline Phones Binatone Argos

Binatone launches two new iDECT landline phones originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:19:09 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 9:19 am

NEWS: Newspapers protest BBC iPhone news apps

Outcry over Beeb "muscling in" and "trampling" all over the market

A trade group representing the newspaper industry is kicking up over the news that the BBC is to expand its iPhone app offerings to include a dedicated BBC News application for Apple's mobile platform.

The Newspaper Publishers Association, or NPA, has "urged" the BBC Trust to look at the plans, which also include a BBC Sports app due in time for the World Cup, arguing that the BBC is "muscling" in, "trampling aspirations" and will "distort" the market.

As well as appeal to the BBC Trust, the group said it plans to take the issues to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and MPs on the Media Select Committee.

"Not for the first time, the BBC is preparing to muscle into a nascent market and trample over the aspirations of commercial news providers", said David Newell, director of the NPA.

The Beeb reports Newell saying that the market for iPhone news apps was "a unique and narrow commercial space" that would be "distorted" by the BBC apps.

However, the BBC says its online service licence is "quite explicit in allowing the BBC to repurpose its online content for consumption on mobile devices" so it seems unlikely the NPA will see any joy with their complaints.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone industry BBC iPhone apps Newspapers NPA BBC Trust

Newspapers protest BBC iPhone news apps originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:46:32 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 8:46 am

NEWS: LOVEFiLM offers free iPhone app

View and manage your rental lists on the go

LOVEFiLM has announced the launch of its first official iPhone app that will see subscribers able to view and manage their rental lists on the move.

The app allows users to search and browse through LOVEFiLM's database of over 65,000 DVDs, Blu-rays and games, add titles to their rental wish lists and change their priority settings. The app also offers film synopses and cast lists and ratings so could also be used by non-LOVEFiLMers for informational purposes.

"As LOVEFiLM moves forward with continued growth of our online DVD business and the acceleration of streaming capabilities through Sony and Samsung's new internet-enabled TVs, it’s also a great time to allow our customers mobile access via the iPhone", says Simon Morris of LOVEFiLM.

The app is?now available to download for free via the App Store, with a little more info on LOVEFiLM's site.

Tags: Phones LoveFilm iPhone apps Home Cinema Gaming

   

LOVEFiLM offers free iPhone app originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:56:41 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 7:56 am

NEWS: HTC Desire also headed to 3

Fourth operator confirmed for new Android handset

Another UK operator has confirmed it is to offer the new HTC Desire, leaving O2 as the only major network that hasn't got in touch with a related announcement.

While T-Mobile is to offer the HTC Desire in March, Orange has announced it will get it from April and Vodafone, with no UK-specific plans revealed, says it will offer the Android phone in Europe in Q2.

3 has now chimed in with its news saying it is to offer the phone on its 3G network this spring. The European version of the Google Nexus One, the Desire boasts an impressive spec list that includes a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display and a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p video capture.

"HTC?is producing some fantastic?internet phones?at the moment, and are really leading the pack. Like us, they really understand what consumers want from the Internet on their phone - a flexible and intuitive interface, coupled with a reliable?3G network that offers a strong and speedy connection", Sylvia Chind, head of branded devices says in a press release.

"Our network?is?growing every day and the HTC Desire is one of many internet?phones set to enter our range this year to really make the most of it".

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones 3 HTC HTC Desire Android

HTC Desire also headed to 3 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:21:48 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 7:21 am

NEWS: PHOTOS: Emporia launches two new simplified handsets

MWC 2010: Hands-on with the emporiaELEGANCE and emporiaSOLID

Emporia has launched two new mobile phones at the Mobile World Congress event, both aimed, as are its other products, at those "who find new technology unnecessarily complicated".

The emporiaELEGANCE and emporiaSOLID boast easy-to-read OLED displays and big buttons. The ELEGANCE model is the the smooth, chrome-accented looker available in white, black and brown while the SOLID boasts robustness for suggested activities such as fishing, walking, gardening or cycling and can be used with gloves on.

The emporiaELEGANCE is due in Q2. The GSM handset has an extra-loud speaker, and offers text and talk abilities. The emporiaSOLID will be incoming in the third quarter and is also loud, with "dirt repellent" and water resistant properties.

Photos by Stuart Miles

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Emporia emporiaELEGANCE emporiaSOLID MWC2010 Photos

                   

PHOTOS: Emporia launches two new simplified handsets originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:27:33 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 6:27 am

NEWS: T-Mobile gets BlackBerry Storm 2

Available now for ?35 a month on 2-year contracts

The BlackBerry Storm 2, previously a Vodafone exclusive, is now available on T-Mobile in the UK.

RIM's second attempt at a touchscreen BlackBerry, the Storm 2 offers a 3.25-inch, 360 x 480 resolution "SurePress" touchscreen display, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording, GPS and Wi-Fi.

There's 256MB of flash memory, 2GB on-board memory expandable via microSD cards up to 16GB, media player, a 3.5mm stereo headset jack and Bluetooth 2.1, while battery life is said to be 6 hours of talk-time.

The Storm 2 is available now from T-Mobile's online shop, free for those signing away 2 years at ?35 per month.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones T-Mobile RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 Tariffs

T-Mobile gets BlackBerry Storm 2 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:40:36 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 5:40 am

NEWS: Nokia X6 goes on Vodafone pre-order

16GB option offered on ?30 a month, 2-year contracts

Vodafone has announced that the Nokia X6 has just gone up for pre-order with those that opt to sign up now due to see delivery of the handset by 1 March.

Unlike the 32GB version already offered in the UK by Orange, Vodafone is ranging the 16GB version. The handset offers a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Those prepared to sign up to 2-year contracts can get the handset for free on ?30 per month contracts while the more cautious opting for an 18-month contract will have to shell out ?35 a month.

You can head over to the Vodafone online shop now to see the full details, while our review of the original X6 is worth a read before you take the plunge.

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Tags: Phones Nokia Vodafone Nokia X6 Tariffs

Nokia X6 goes on Vodafone pre-order originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:22:19 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 4:22 am

NEWS: The best of MWC 2010

MWC 2010: Highlights from the show

Mobile World Congress is almost over, but what were the best bits of the show in Barcelona this year? Which phones or apps should you be looking out for, and is there anything that you'll need to start saving for straight away??

The first show after a difficult year thanks to the economic climate and recession; new handsets were thin on the ground as were announcements.?

Nokia, who chose a blind institute off-site to make its announcement, could only muster up news about merging its Linux-based phone OS found on the N900 with Intel's Linux mobile OS to create MeeGo, which is due out later in the year. Likewise BlackBerry creator?RIM?opted to talk about improvements to its browser rather than woo us with new hardware.?

LG, Samsung, and Sagem?(Puma phone) had a single handset a piece, a stark contrast to previous years, while Palm?and Apple?stayed away altogether with Palm having had launches at CES, whilst Apple waiting 'till the usual March launch cycle.

Sony Ericsson, who actually launched the most handsets at the show, opted for a confused variation on a theme approach. Re-announcements of old phones, then announcements of mini versions of those phones, and then mini versions of those phones with keyboards making up their press conference.

HTC was next in line with a number of announcements, launching four new handsets: The HTC Legend, the HTC Desire, the HTC HD mini and then confirmation that the HTC Smart, first shown at CES in Las Vegas in January would be coming to O2 in the UK.?

Toshiba?meanwhile updated its TG01 phone with the aptly named TG02 giving it a capacitive screen, then promptly launched the KV01 with, you guessed it, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Meanwhile?Garmin?was back with a couple more GPS-focused phones, while Acer?teased with updates and the promise of a Ferrari handset later in the year.?

If it wasn't handsets, it was operating systems or "platforms" as the industry likes to call them. If you didn't have one you weren't worth the "experience" it seems with Samsung showing off its latest effort Bada, Nokia as we've said announcing MeeGo, HTC improving its Sense UI Android skin, and Microsoft unveiling Windows Phone 7 Series after starting from scratch.

Elsewhere the App Planet, a first for MWC, produced little with the main highlights being the BBC promising a range of apps and Swiftkey and Opera mini for the iPhone; an app that is never likely to see the light of day.?

But it's not all doom and gloom. There were some gems to look forward to amongst the crazy eye controlling headphones and football shaped USB mobile broadband dongles:?

Best in show

Of course we'll be getting all the above in for review to make sure they live up to the claims they are making, but here are the five phones that caught our attention.

Sonim XP2

Sonim?continues to create tough phones and its latest offering is no different; this time introducing something called gorilla glass to help protect the screen. As many journalists proved it's not unbreakable, but your builder friend would love it.?

Samsung Wave

A new OS, a Super AMOLED screen, and a spec sheet that means the?Samsung Wave?is out to impress means the phone that sports the best screen of the show will be a hit with Samsung phone fans when it lands in shops.

HTC Desire

The bigger more powerful Android offering from HTC, it takes over the mantle from the Nexus One (which incidentally Google gave out to over 2000 to developers for free at the show). The HTC Desire doesn't look as pretty as the Legend, but a faster processor and beefier specs proves it's the new top dog at the show.?

HTC Legend

By far the most "gorgeous" looking handset at the show, the HTC Legend is crafted from a single piece of aluminium. Replacing the popular and award winning HTC Hero it looks to be a lovely piece of kit and certainly a device that is likely to boost the uptake of the Android OS in the coming months.?

Windows Phone 7 Series

Having gone back to the drawing board, Microsoft has pulled the rabbit out of the hat with Windows Phone 7 Series, and created a new mobile operating system for mobile phones that will put them back in the game against the likes of Apple and Google. Some neat tricks, a completely new UI, plus confirmation that we'll be getting Zune and Xbox Live on the go means this is one to watch. The catch is that you'll have to wait until Christmas before any handsets are likely to be a reality.

You

What did you think the best of the show was? What are you looking forward to over the coming months? Do you think Microsoft will be able to take on Apple and Google with its new operating system? Have your say in the comments below.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones Mobile phone apps Apple Palm Samsung Nokia LG Sony Ericsson Sagem RIM Opera Huawei MWC2010 DoCoMo Touchtype Sonim Toshiba BBC Garmin Acer

           

The best of MWC 2010 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:57:57 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 3:57 am

NEWS: PHOTOS: HTC Smart in pink hands-on

MWC 2010: Could be a huge seller in 2010

O2 announced that it was bringing the HTC Smart exclusively to the UK (and other countries), offering a smartphone at around half the price you'd normally expect.

We saw the phone at CES in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year, but had to bring you a photo gallery of the pink one, because we think this is going to go down a storm.

Some say that pink phones stereotype and patronise girls. Some girls complain there aren't enough pink phones out there. We know more of the latter than the former, and already know there are some getting really excited about the pink HTC Smart.

The HTC Smart runs the Sense user interface and this is perhaps the smartest part of the Smart. HTC Sense is a great system that pulls in your social networking buddies and gives you a "people-centric" phone, ideal for those who spend all their time scanning Facebook.

We've seen HTC Sense on a range of phones in the past and we've liked it. The HTC Smart is a little less fully-featured than some other phones; the operating system isn't as comprehensive, you won't get the highest specs, but you will get a great experience at a decent price.

That is, of course, if O2 slaps the right price on it. We're waiting to see exactly what that price will be. In the meantime check out all the pictures, and let us know what you think.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC HTC Smart O2 Telefonica Brew Mobile Platform MWC2010 Photos

                                         

PHOTOS: HTC Smart in pink hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:25:04 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 3:25 am

NEWS: TalkTalk to call lonely pensioners once a week

"We'll Call You" service offers "free weekly natter"

TalkTalk has announced the launch of a new service designed to offer UK pensioners a "free weekly natter".

The new service, called "We’ll Call You", will see TalkTalk staff calling an over 65-year-old customer that lives alone for 5 minutes at a set time once a week.

It is hoped, says TalkTalk, that each team caller will form a bond with their "We’ll Call You" contacts.

The phone company suggests the calls can include discussing the news, gossiping about the week’s TV or just to have a chat about whatever takes their fancy.

While the caller will check that everything is all right, the pensioner can get the TalkTalk staffer to look up information for them about local services, but sales of TalkTalk products are a no-go area, promised the phone provider.

"We’re not trying to replace social services and charities but our research shows that the service we’re providing meets a need which is not currently being met", said TalkTalk’s communications director Mark Schmid.

"With the number of older people living alone passing the four million mark the launch of our service is very timely".

The service will initially be available to the first 50 eligible people that apply. Do you think this is a nice idea or just a publicity stunt? Have your say in the comments box below.

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Tags: Phones Broadband TalkTalk

TalkTalk to call lonely pensioners once a week originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:20:51 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 3:20 am

NEWS: VIDEO: Google Goggles mobile translation demoed

MWC 2010: 52 language plan for Babel Fish app

We've kept you updated with Google's translation plans, with both phone and wider applications planned for the future, but if you're the type that likes to see a concept demoed then here's a handy video to help.

Taking Google's Goggles app for Android that offers image recognition and merging it with Google's machine translation, in this demo, Google uses Goggles to take a picture of a German menu and instantly translate the text into English.

Google says the app is "not yet ready for prime time", but says that "soon your phone will be able to translate signs, posters and other foreign text instantly into your language".

Google's plan is to offer a version of Goggles that can translate between all of the 52 languages currently supported by Google Translate - we will keep you posted on developments.

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Read

Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Google Video Android Translation MWC2010

VIDEO: Google Goggles mobile translation demoed originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:50:29 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 2:50 am

NEWS: Opera Mini on iPhone demoed, and unlikely to see the light of day

MWC 2010: We go hands on with zippy browser with plenty of features

Opera has been busy showing off its?Opera Mini?browser offering on the iPhone at?Mobile World Congress?in Barcelona; completely set in the belief that?Apple?will be unable to decline entry of its browser into the App Store when it submits it in the next couple of weeks.

Although the move is likely to be declined outright or put into the "waiting for approval" box for eternity, that hasn't stopped Opera spending over a year, and considerably money, developing the app for the Apple phone.

"We've met every specification from Apple in their App Store terms and conditions", Phillip Gronvold, a project analyst, told Pocket-lint in a one to one interview and apparently buoyant that Apple will say "Yes".

The browser has already been downloaded 7.5 million times on other platforms like Google's Android and the BlackBerry OS. It is a lighter version of the full Opera Mobile "experience" and plans to offer a number of major improvements over the current default Safari browser from Apple.

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures, but the user interface and experience is very similar to the yet released Opera Mobile app for the Nexus one (pictured).

The main selling point, claims Opera, is a vastly improved speed benefit even on GPRS connections.

In our demo Gronvold managed to load six pages of the New York Times website to Safari's one, while an additional trick of temporarily caching the pages locally means zipping backwards through pages you've already visited in that session doesn't involve reloading them.

The company is also hoping the appeal of desktop syncing, a quick panel homepage, tabbed browsing and the ability to save pages to read later will make it a sure fire hit if it ever gets approved, but is this all just hypothetical?

For the time being that's all it is at the moment as Apple has yet to approve the browser, which many believe will be unlikely anyway.

"We have no reason to see why they wouldn't approve the app. We are 100% certain they will", reconfirmed Gronvold in our interview a number of times.

So if they don't approve will it become available on the darker side of the phone, in the Cydia store on Jailbroken handsets?

Gronvold says no: "We work very closely with Apple providing Opera on the desktop version of the Mac, we aren't here to cause friction", before going on to say that "if this was just a PR stunt we could have released something into the wild a long time ago".

Let's hope for iPhone users looking to surf the net quickly on the phone that Apple have a moment of weakness and let Opera mini for iPhone through the system. ?

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Tags: Phones Mobile phone apps Apple App Store Opera iPhone MWC2010 Opera Mini Browsers

           

Opera Mini on iPhone demoed, and unlikely to see the light of day originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:26:26 +0000

Posted on 18 February 2010 | 2:26 am

NEWS: Huawei football modem lets you show your love for the game

MWC 2010: He shoots, he scores....

Football fans looking to show their support for the World Cup this summer will be able to show their love for the game with a new USB modem from dongle maker?Huawei?that looks like a football.

The E2010 is a HSDPA modem that will give you 7.2Mbps connection speeds as long as you are in coverage.

Cracking it open like a walnut reveals a USB plug to connect to your computer and you'll get support for all the major operating systems - Windows, Mac and Linux.

It seems the only trouble you'll have is convincing people it's supposed to be a football rather than just a rather large looking eye-ball hanging from your computer.

No word on pricing or where it will be stocked, but expect it to appear in time for the World Cup in South Africa in the next couple of months.?

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Tags: Phones Mobile broadband Huawei MWC2010 World Cup 2010

   

Huawei football modem lets you show your love for the game originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:03:46 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 10:03 am

NEWS: Notepod+ is a non-digital iPad

iPad-shaped notebook joins iPhone option

From the Aussie team that brought us the Notepod, angled as ideal for sketching out iPhone app ideas, comes the iPad version.

Dubbed the Notepod+, perhaps to avoid any unwanted attention from Apple's legal department, the product is angled as "a perfect mouse-mat or desk jotter".

One 189 x 243mm, 100pp, Notepod+ sells for $19.99 (US dollars) including shipping and they are available now.

Read

Tags: Phones iPhone Apple Notepods Software iPad Apple iPad Notepod+

   

Notepod+ is a non-digital iPad originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:28:16 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 8:28 am

NEWS: Vodafone to 360 the HTC Legend

MWC 2010: As well as offer the Desire, HD mini and Sense update to Hero owners

Following on from T-Mobile and Orange's news that the HTC Desire will be available through those mobile phone networks in the UK, Vodafone has revealed it is to also offer the Desire, as well as the HTC Legend - and the HTC HD mini.

"The HTC Legend, the HTC Desire and the HTC HD mini will be ranged in selected Vodafone markets across our footprint", Patrick Chomet, group director of terminals for Vodafone said in an HTC press release.

"I'm particularly pleased that through our collaboration with HTC", Chomet continues, "Vodafone customers will experience a differentiated experience on the HTC Legend which will come customised for them with pre-loaded Vodafone 360 Internet services".

No UK specific information has yet been revealed - Vodafone says the HTC Legend will be available in Europe through Vodafone from April, the Desire will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets in early Q2.?

The new, enhanced HTC Sense experience will also be offered as a free upgrade on the HTC Hero in Europe and Asia, says Vodafone.

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Tags: Phones Mobile phones HTC Vodafone HTC Legend MWC2010 Vodafone 360 HTC Desire HTC HD Mini

Vodafone to 360 the HTC Legend originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:51:47 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 7:51 am

NEWS: Tech deals: O2 Samsung SGH-D900 for ?39.99

Deals, offers and innovations

As its Mobile World Congress we thought we'd try to find a phone related deal for you today, and not wanting to disappoint we have, in the form of the O2 Samsung SGH-D900 from eBay.

The handset might not be of the wizzy-touchsreen, super-connected variety that we're seeing over at MWC, but you can be sure it'll make calls, text and the battery will last longer than a day - all for ?39.99.

The chrome coloured transportable telephone even gets a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and and MP3 player which you can view on its colour screen.

To take a look for yourself click through on this link and we'll have another deal for you tomorrow.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Samsung Samsung SGH-D900 eBay O2 Daily Tech Deal

 

Tech deals: O2 Samsung SGH-D900 for £39.99 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 7:00 am

NEWS: Microsoft Windows 7 Series puts Microsoft back in the game

MWC 2010: Plus further details

At Mobile World Congress Microsoft pulled the "rabbit out of the hat" and released a brand new mobile phone OS -?Windows Phone 7 Series.

We managed to get a quick run through and some hands on time with the new OS on a reference unit, whilst also having a chat with some of the Microsoft bigwigs to get the lowdown on what's what.

Gone is the stylus and in comes a funky, sleek interface that looks to bring the Zune HD interface to a mobile phone near you. ?

Windows Phone 7 Series is based around seven core hubs: Pictures, People, Browsing, Games, Music, Marketplace and Office.

The User Interface (UI) is totally different to both the company's own mobile phone operating system, Windows Mobile, and industry competitors like Android and the iPhone, since it brings with it a more interactive "live" experience. Rather than static icons in a grid, the phone is constantly showing interactive tiles that move, update and interact.

"The notion that a smartphone is all about apps isn't where we are coming from", Alex Reeve, the man in charge of Mobile for Microsoft in the UK told Pocket-lint.

Microsoft is hoping a connected interface to services like the Zune and its Xbox Live gaming offering, as well as a marketplace for apps and its Office services, will bring a more fluid approach to those who "want it all".

What that means in reality is that you'll be able to connect with your profile on the Xbox, sync with your contacts and generally treat the handset as an extension to your Microsoft life.

Expected to hit a phone maker near you in time for Christmas, there will be plenty of hardware and software restrictions to make sure that the new OS is consistent and exactly how you'll expect it to be. Operators and manufactures will be able to add elements to the design but there is "no flexibility to paint over the top" confirms Reeve.

The good news is that Microsoft has confirmed to Pocket-lint that the Zune "experience" will be heading to the UK in time for the launch, but that for the time being we won't be seeing the Zune HD.

Where do developers fit into all this? Not wanting to overwhelm with too much information Microsoft is for the moment keeping quiet, however it does say that it is keen on getting them involved in what they hope will be the vehicle to get them back in the "game".

Microsoft will be announcing further details on how developers will be able to get involved in March at the company's Mix event in Las Vegas.

We'll have plenty of news on this story as it develops on our dedicated?Windows Phone 7 Series hompage.

Stay tuned.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series MWC2010 Windows Mobile 7 Zune HD

                           

Microsoft Windows 7 Series puts Microsoft back in the game originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:44:48 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 6:44 am

NEWS: PHOTOS: HP Compaq AirLife 100

MWC 2010: See the new Android-based smartbook in the flesh

HP's just announced Compaq AirLife 100, a new Android-based smartbook, is being shown off at the Mobile World Congress event and we were on hand to grab some live pics of the new portable device.

From the photos you'll see the 92% full size keyboard, SD card slot and webcam. What you won't see is the Snapdragon processor, 16GB SSD, GPS, 3G and 12 hours battery life.

Have a browse through the pics below and we'll keep you posted with news of the AirLife 100 that's due to launch via Telefonica (so O2 in the UK) this spring.

Photos by Stuart Miles

Tags: Hardware HP Android HP Compaq AirLife 100 MWC2010 Smartbooks Phones Qualcomm Photos

                         

PHOTOS: HP Compaq AirLife 100 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:31:39 +0000

Posted on 17 February 2010 | 6:31 am