I've always liked Sony Ericsson's logo, it's the green color is nice and refreshing. However, it seems that SE wants to "freshen up their advertising" so the number 4 mobile phone manufacturer decided to design different colors of their logo.
Okay, so it's not a complete revamp, all they have to do is photoshop their logo in different colors. Sony Ericsson's logo will no come in pink, blue, orange, and purple. The mobile phone manufacturer's new logo comes ahead of £8m campaign for promoting their Satio, Yari, Aino mobile phone models as well as their Play-Now music and film download service.
Hmm, I wonder how much money they spent to have someone photoshop their logos with different colors? I wish they wouldn't spend so much on their promos but rather just spend money on making their PSP Phone. Oh well, I guess Sony Ericsson can afford to lose more money.
So, I guess Microsoft will be completely revamping their Windows Mobile OS. Apparently, the Windows Mobile 6.5 won't be called "windows mobile" anymore but more of the "Windows Phone". This is because Microsoft is getting tired of people associating their mobile phone OS as "not user friendly and laggy".
Hmm, so will the windows mobile 6.5...I mean, the next Windows Phone make any difference on Microsoft's mobile OS image? Well, from the screen shots and videos of the Windows Phone OS it's likely.
Let's just hope for Microsoft's sake, they've fine tuned their mobile phone OS or they might as well rest in peace as some iPhone lovers would have it.
I've just seen Sandra Bullock's The Proposal movie and I've really enjoyed it. Ever since I started this mobile phone blog, I got into the habit of checking out the mobile phones featured in movies. Batman's phone for example, in the Dark Knight turned out to be the Nokia Tube.
Anyways, it seems that Nokia has been dominating the movies when it comes to mobile phone marketing with their appearances in hit movies such as Charlie's Angels, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, and who knows what else. LG follows close behind with LG phones appearing in movies such as Iron Man and Transformers 2.
Well, in the proposal, you'll notice that Sandra is on her mobile phone a lot of times, it's white and has a silver battery cover. Well, it's actually the Nokia E71 mobile phone. The Nokia E71 is not the latest mobile phone in Nokia's roster of phones, in fact, it would soon be replaced by the Nokia E72. I'm sure a lot of working women will have their eye on the Nokia E71 after Sandra used it in the movie. I have to admit, the white E71 does have its appeal and it's not a bad phone too with 3G, WiFi, GPS, and a 3.2 megapixel camera.
Ryan Reynolds on the other hand is using a Nokia flip phone: the Nokia N76, in black. The Nokia N76 is a RAZR like mobile phone but since it's an older model, specifications are not that great with no 3G, WiFi, or GPS and only has a 2 megapixel camera.
After some beta testers leaked an OTA (over-the-air) download link for the Blackberry version of Skyfire, it seems that the Alpha version would be delayed.
Skyfire's web browser makes use of servers in order to render flash web pages faster on your mobile phones. Since the Skyfire for Blackberry is in limited beta test, there are only a few persons allowed to make use of the Skyfire mobile browser and any unauthorized use or download of the browser would result in their servers being overloaded, thus, those who have downloaded the Skyfire Alpha version would find themselves having a hard time to connect to Skyfire's servers.
Skyfire seems to have already pulled the Alpha testing for the web browser for the Blackberry and most think that this would delay the release of the Alpha version.
All I can say is--too bad for Blackberry users. I personally love Skyfire on my windows mobile phone. Sure, it's not the fastest browser but I just love the fact that I can play Facebook applications on my web browser rather than rely on some Facebook widgets. This is a must have for avid Facebook games users who needs to check in on their applications every once in a while. Mafia Wars, anyone?
A few days after the HTC Hero has been announced on Orange, T-Mobile UK will release their own version dubbed as the T-Mobile G2 Touch tomorrow.
Now UK customers who wants to get their hands on the HTC Hero mobile phone will have two choices of carriers. Of course, you can also get your HTC Hero under a contract mobile phone plan or unlocked from third parties such as mobiles.co.uk.
Mobiles.co.uk offers the HTC Hero for free under £30 a month tariff (1200 mins with unlimited texts) plus you can get half off your tariff for 9 months.
For those not in the know, the HTC Hero is the latest Android mobile phone from HTC with a 3.2 inch touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, etc. You can check my HTC Hero preview for more information.
Yet another reason why mobile phones are far from being obsolete. Broadcom, a leading Bluetooth manufacturer has just announced that their advanced Bluetooth technology has been integrated into several new LG TVs that are now shipping.
These Bluetooth enabled LCD TVs will allow your mobile phones to communicate with your TV so you can stream your music from your mobile phone and play it on your TV, as well as send pictures wirelessly so you can view it on your widescreen.
In the future, our mobile phones may also be used as remote controls. Pretty cool. Let's just wait and see how much we have to dish out to have this advanced LCD TVs in our living rooms.
For those of you contemplating of getting the Toshiba TG01 mobile phone but is hesitating to do so because you don't want to jump in on the Orange network, you might want to wait out a few more months because according to Orange, it seems that the Toshiba TG01 will only be exclusive as an Orange phone for only 3 months.
So after 3 months, the other wireless carriers such as Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and 3 are free to grab it and offer it up as their own contract mobile phones.
Of course, if you can't wait and you must absolutely have the TG01 mobile phone right now, you can always get it on the Orange network, be prepared to dish out around 35 quid monthly for 24 months though.
Get ready folks because starting yesterday (July 24th) and for the whole of this week, you can access your Facebook for free on your mobile phone using Vodofone's mobile broadband service.
This promo is part of Vodofone UK's Free Friday Series which started last May commencing with their 50p flat internet rate for Pay as you Go customers and those without any data bundles. Last June, they offered DRM free Music.
Browsing Facebook is free but browsing other websites would be charged Vodafone's flat internet rate. You can find out more about this offer at: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/facebook.
Okay, so I previously said that the thing that turns me off buying mobile phone watches is that they're just too bulky, well Samsung just solved that problem for me by introducing their S9110 Mobile phone watch which is currently, the slimmest mobile phone watch in the market. LG previously introduced their very cool LG GD910 phone watch which features a capacitive touchscreen, 3G, and video calling so naturally, Samsung had to go out and make one to compete with their nemesis (in Korea).
The Samsung S9110 is only 11.98 thick, has a 1.76 inch watch face which is touch sensitive, Bluetooth, and the capability to Sync with Outlook. Aesthetically, the Samsung S9110 mobile phone watch, with its slimmer profile, has the edge over the LG GD910 but the former left out 3G and video calling capabilities.
The phone watch on the girls wrist (inset picture) still seems to be a bit big for me. Anyways, the Samsung S9110 mobile phone watch will initially be available in France for 450 euros, that's a month ahead of the release date of the LG GD910 on Orange.
This is for those who absolutely must have their mobile phones in a pink color: Vodafone just announced that a pink version of their Samsung Blade mobile phone is now available.
The Samsung Blade pink mobile phone is another budget touchscreen phone competing with the Samsung Tocco lite and the LG Cookie. This mobile phone has a 2.8 inch capacitive touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and 3G.
You can get the Samsung S5600v pink phone for free under a contract mobile phone plan for a low £15 monthly tariff.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone, or known previously as the Sony Ericsson Rachel, has been spotted recently at Expansys' website. Expansys jumped the gun on Sony Ericsson before the latter could indeed confirm the existence or non-existence of the Xperia X10. For those thinking, what happened to the X2? Well, that's reserved for the follow up of the X1, a windows mobile device. The Xperia X10 will run the Android OS.
Specifications and Overview
Unofficial photos and videos have been circulating the blogosphere regarding the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 but there was really no confirmed specifications yet until Expansys put it on their product page. We all know that the Xperia X10 will sport a 4 inch screen but there has been conflicts regarding the resolution. While Expansys reports an 800 x 400 resolution, a leaked video of the Rachel UI shows and 852 x 480 aspect ratio, you can check the video below.
Aside from having a massive screen, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 also sports an 8 megapixel camera, a first for any Android phone since the highest camera resolution on an Android Mobile phone is 5 megapixels which can be found on the Samsung Galaxy and HTC Hero.
Other goodies found on the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone include: GPS, onboard 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port, Bluetooth, WiFi, and is HSDPA capable.
Like the HTC Hero, the Xperia X10 will have it's own UI on top of the standard Android UI. The UI of the Xperia X10 sports the same panel interface as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.
Videos of the Xperia X10
If you're curious of the UI, here are some videos of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone in action found throughout the web and compiled for your convenience.
Conclusion
Sony Ericsson seems to be trying to make their presence felt in the smartphone market. With the X2 in the works and the X10 soon to be confirmed, Sony Ericsson's Xperia series of smartphones will definitely up the ante in terms of competition in the smartphone market. All I have to say is, bring them on! The more competition and smartphones there are, the better news it is for us, consumers.
You can pre-order the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobile phone on Expansys here. No pricing as of date.
It's not often that we get a slide out QWERTY mobile phone from Nokia, and not often that it comes in a cute package such as the Nokia 6760. The Nokia 6760 is known as the Nokia Surge in the US and is being sold under an AT&T contract.
Specifications and Overview
The Nokia 6760 mobile phone has 2.4 inches screen (non touchscreen), with a full QWERTY keyboard. It runs on Quadband GSM networks, and is HSDPA capable. The Nokia 6760 slide runs on S60 and also has a microSD slot that can support up to 8GB of memory. While the Nokia Surge in the US only has 2 megapixel of camera, the Nokia 6760 slide will have 3 megapixel camera, stereo FM radio, and GPS.
Although I've always associated QWERTY mobile phones as high end ones, the Nokia 6760 will only retail for around 199 euros before taxes and will be available in Europe and the rest of Asia around the third quarter of 2009.
Outlook
The Nokia 6760 mobile phone does look cute and is a welcome change from Nokia's candy bar mid-range mobile phones. I do hope that the camera on this mobile phone is not crappy.
I don't know when UK Carriers will release the Samsung Omnia II here in the UK, under contract, but if you fancy to have one before every body else, then you can buy this mobile phone overseas. Where? eBay of course.
The Samsung Omnia II mobile phone is already available in Singapore since last July 18th. Naturally, Singaporean eBay sellers are offering the phone up for sale. Well, how much for a Samsung Omnia II not under any contract mobile phone plan? $719 to be exact, inclusive of shipping but exclusive of any customs taxes which you might get charged for when you import this thing. That's $100 more than the suggested retail price in Singapore which is around $618.
But still, $719 is not a bad price to pay for a high end mobile phone like this one. You get 3.7 inches of AMOLED screen, 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, GPS, etc.
You can search for the Samsung i8000 Omnia II mobile phone in eBay Singapore. Remember that you might pay more than $719 if you get charged for customs and duties taxes.
It's the first weekend for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I'm betting everyone is in Harry Mania. What that means? A lot of searches for Harry Potter on the Internet, more DVD/Blu-ray sales of movie franchise and of course, for mobile phones, a lot of downloads for Harry Potter mobile phone themes, wallpapers, and ringtones.
THEMES
So far, the only Harry Potter mobile phone themes I've found on the net is for the Sony Ericsson W705, in all probability, it would also run on the Sony Ericsson G705 mobile phone. You can certainly make your own Potter theme for your Sony Ericsson mobile phone by using the thousand of movie pictures available on the net (via Google Image search) and then using Sony's Themes Creator. As for Nokia, http://www.ownskin.com/ lets you create your own free mobile phone themes and even animated ones.
RINGTONES
Now free Harry Potter mobile phone ringtones are a bit hard to come by. For one, ringtones are usually copyrighted so most often than not, you have to buy them. However, if you fancy "expelliarmus!" as your phone's message tone, you can probably create one yourself. You can rip your DVD to an MPEG file, cut the MPEG video file and select the scene you want, and then extract the MP3 file from the cut video. There are free tools on the Internet available for this task. So long as you don't sell the ringtone, you won't be violating any copyright.
WALLPAPERS
Harry Potter mobile phone wallpapers are easiest to find. You just have to grab your favorite photo/poster from the net and resize it to fit your mobile phone screen. You can use Google to search the supported image size of your mobile phone.
So, start googling away and join the Potter Mania! Personally, I love this particular movie. I think it's well made compared with the other five Harry Potter movies.
I've had my Samsung Omnia mobile phone for a few months now but I haven't really utilized this phone that much for music playing. I've transferred a few ripped MP3 tracks on this phone a few months back but I couldn't seem to display the Album Art for the Touch Player.
Anyways, here's what I've discovered on how to display AlbumArt on your Samsung Omnia phone. First, you have to place all the MP3's of the same album on one folder in your mobile phone's storage. For example, I have the Norah Jones MP3's under her "come away with me" album, I place all those tracks in my mobile phone's storage under a folder I've named, "come away with me". To display the albumart, I just make sure that the album cover art inside the folder "come away with me" is named as "folder.jpg", take note of this because I was stupid enough to rename that jpg file to same filename as the actual folder name which is a no-no.
If you have some individual MP3 tracks on your mobile phone without an albumart, you might want to try creating separate folders on your phone's storage for each MP3 tracks, don't worry creating folders don't take up a lot of space, then putting the albumart on those folders and renaming the jpg files "folder.jpg". That's it, you now have album art on your Samsung Omnia mobile phone.
I must admit, the reviews of the Nokia N97 are less than stellar. I was really hoping that the preproduction model I've seen would undergo some major UI changes but it seems that Nokia stuck with the old Symbian OS which frankly, pales in comparison compared with its competition.
So the results of the less than stellar performance of the N97? A 66 percent drop in the second quarter profits of the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer, prompting it to lower their 2009 market share target for its mobile phones.
Of course the drop doesn't necessarily mean that Nokia is dying, the company just opted to be on the conservative side and instead of forecasting a rise in their profits this year, played it safe by saying this year's profit would be at par with last year. Because of this, Nokia's shares lowered on Thursday.
Competition is really tough for Nokia considering the aggressive marketing and pricing of Samsung Mobile Phones. Currently, the unlocked price of the Samsung i8910 HD is lower than the Nokia N97 with the former bringing to the table HD recording and a huge AMOLED screen while the latter--well, a QWERTY keyboard. Although both devices run S60, Samsung went a step further by adding their TouchWiz interface.
With Samsung's current strategy, I think it would only be a matter of time until the Korean mobile phone manufacturer topples the world's no.1 mobile phone manufacturer.
Honestly, I think Samsung's Armani phones are pretty boring. The first one, a small, touchscreen phone is REALLY slow, the second one, a candy-bar phone which doesn't have any great features except for the Armani branding. Now, this rumoured next Samsung Armani phone might just be right up my alley.
According to the specs found in the Bluetooth group's website, the Samsung Armani B7620 will run Windows Mobile 6.1, have an 800 Mhz processor, WAP 2.0, FM radio, GPS, business card reader, etc.
Although I don't know how Pocketlint is able to conclude that the B7620 is the next Armani phone, but hey, they are a good source of news and has been proven reliable in the past.
I have just spent a good two hours of my time trying to connect my Samsung S7220 Lucido phone to the Samsung PC Studio on my computer through Bluetooth connection. I'm making this post to in order to save the time of those who're trying to do the same and also to document my problem just in case I run to a similar problem in the future and forgot what I did to solve it. BTW, I'm using a generic USB Bluetooth 2.0 Dongle and a Windows XP machine.
Connecting with the New Samsung PC Studio
Anyways, what I first did was pair my Samsung mobile phone with my PC using the Bluetooth icon on the taskbar (just right click on the Bluetooth icon on the system tray and click add device, follow the instructions. Be sure your mobile phone's Bluetooth is turned on by going to applications->Bluetooth->Options->Activation on). Anyways, so once I paired my PC with my Samsung mobile phone, I ran the Samsung PC Studio, which by the way, has a very nice graphics interface.
Problem 1: Device is not in Idle Mode
I then proceeded to try to connect my phone using the "search device" icon on the top right. Samsung PC Studio automatically tried to detect the Bluetooth devices. I clicked on the name of my Samsung phone then pressed connect. PC Studio then began detecting my device and then it happened: Device is not in idle mode...etc, etc.
My first thought was that another application might be accessing my mobile phone but then no other application is running in the background. The next few hours were then spent pairing and unpairing my phone, manually setting up the connection by assigning the Bluetooth COM ports, etc. Nothing happened. I then Googled my problem and thankfully, I got my answer on the first search. It turns out that you have to go to the homescreen in order to be in "idle mode". I was still in the Bluetooth menu when I tried to connect my Samsung Lucido. Well, this is just stupid, Samsung. Nokia and Sony Ericsson are able to connect their mobile phones with their respective PC suites even without me exiting any internal menu.
Problem 2: Device is not recognized
I forgot the specific message but I'll update this once I've encountered that message again. Anyways, to solve this problem, I had to manually configure my connection and COM port. In my Bluetooth tray (Bluetooth icon on the system tray), I selected my device name and clicked on properties. I then pressed the "services" tab. There are two services and COM ports listed. Remember the COM port number for the DUN connection and select that COM port when Samsung PC Studio asks you which COM port to use when you manually configure your phone connection. Your mobile phone will then ask you "pair with *your computer name* using DUN connection", select yes and Samsung PC Studio should now be able to recognize your phone. I suggest setting the device to authorize on your Samsung phone so that you don't have to manually press yes everytime your PC wants to connect with your phone.
Conclusion
Wow, now that's two hours of my life wasted just because I failed to exit the Bluetooth menu and return to the homescreen when pairing/connecting my Samsung phone. Thanks a lot Samsung. Of course, my life would have been easier if I just used the cable provided but come on, wired connection is so five minutes ago. :D
If you've been drooling over the iPhone but you can't get your hands on it because you're forever indebted to your current wireless carrier like T-Mobile and Orange and you just can't afford to pay out over £400 for an unlocked iPhone, well, you might get your hands on the iPhone 3G soon enough under contract with T-Mobile or Orange.
Reports say that T-Mobile UK is negotiating with Apple to release the iPhone 3G within the next few months. Orange is also rumoured to be under talks with Apple too although nothing is really confirmed.
As for what O2 has to say about this, well, there's no word yet but like what everyone is saying, I'm sure they won't mind since they already have the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre as exclusive contract mobile phones under their network.
What about Vodafone?! I'm sure a lot of Voda users would also want the iPhone 3G subsidized by Voda. Well, just keep your fingers crossed.
If you're itching to get your hands on the Samsung Jet mobile phone but you don't want to be stuck with Vodofone (previously, the Samsung Jet was sold exclusively to Vodafone), then here's your chance to pre-order this latest mobile phone from Samsung under an O2 or Orange contract.
The Samsung Jet is currently under pre-order at Mobiles.co.uk and it is available from free under a £25 a month tariff via Orange phone contract. The cheapest tariff you can get the Samsung Jet from Orange is £15 a month for 24 months but you have to shell out £159.99.
If you want your Samsung Jet under an O2 contract, you have to wait a while until mobiles.co.uk post their pricing for O2.
Check my Samsung Jet Review if you want to know if this mobile phone is worth getting.
The Nokia E72 is the latest addition to Nokia's E-Series of mobile phones, meaning it's targeted mainly for business users. A lot of people who have their Nokia E71, are probably wondering if the Nokia E72 mobile phone is worth the upgrade so let's have a look.
Design, Hardware
Aesthetically, the Nokia E72 mobile phone doesn't differ much from its predecessor. They still sport that Blackberry-like look except that the Nokia E72 now has an optical D-pad like on the Samsung i780. However, unlike the samsung i780, this mobile phone is not a touch screen phone. There's also a slight modification with the keyboard layout, most noticeable is the smaller spacebar.
Another thing that's new on the E72 phone is that it now has a standard 3.5mm headset jack and a 5 megapixel versus the 3.1 megapixel of the E71.
User Interface, Features
The Nokia E72 runs the latest Symbian OS and navigating the device is really easy. The optical D-pad seems to works really well and is responsive. The homemenu features some widget like interface. It's hard to describe it here so here's a video walkthrough of the Nokia E72's interface courtesy of someone from YouTube.
The Nokia E72 features an improved processing power of 600 MHz versus the 369 MHz of its predecessor. I guess that's why the E72 can afford to have a more animated user interface without compromising on the speed.
The 5 megapixel camera on the Nokia E72 is something else. Someone on the internet has posted some sample photos of the preproduction model of the E72 and I have to say, the E72 produces great picture quality compared with other 5 megapixel phones. Here are some of the sample shots:
As for the other specifications, everything's almost the same. Both the Nokia E71 and E72 mobile phones have 3G/HSDPA, FM Radio, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a microSD slot.
Outlook
If you already have a Nokia E71, the 5 megapixel cameara may be reason enough for you to switch, plus the added bonus of the fast and animated UI would make the Nokia E72 mobile phone a worthy phone upgrade. However, if you're not so much into camera phones and you're happy with the slow performance of your E71, then, as they say, don't fix it if it ain't broken.
Looks like the HTC Hero isn't so exclusive to Orange after all. T-Mobile has recently announced that they would be selling their own version of the HTC Hero and will dub it: the T-Mobile G2 Touch, a few days after Orange announced that HTC Hero will be joining their Orange phones.
So if you're itching to get the HTC Hero, you will have two wireless carriers to get it as a contract mobile phone: Orange and T-Mobile. Both carriers say that they will be launching the HTC Hero/G2 Touch this July.
You can get the T-Mobile G2 Touch for free under a contract mobile phone plan from T-Mobile with a £40 tariff and you will have to be locked with your contract for 18 months. The £40 a month tariff will be under T-Mobile's Flext schemes.
If you envy the iPhone for its Safari browser, well, there's a better alternative for Windows Mobile and Symbian users: Skyfire.
Skyfire is a free web browser for your mobile phone and offers superior browsing capabilities. We're talking about watching YouTube videos right on the web browser and not through java applications. The Skyfire browser is the closest you'll get to full desktop web browsing experience on your mobile phone.
I've previously tested the Skyfire Beta version and compared it with other available mobile browsers in my Best Web Browsers for Pocket PC post. Skyfire is the only browser that supports full flash websites but had issues with rendering. I'm downloading the Skyfire 1.0 version as I write and will test it again to see if rendering web pages have improved and will compare it with my Opera browser on my Samsung Omnia.
Currently, Skyfire is only available for Windows Mobile Users and Nokia E Series and N Series users. Hopefully, Skyfire will make a java version so that it can compete head to head with the Opera Mini.
Well, it's the battle of exclusives again. After the announcement of Palm that the Palm Pre will be exclusive to O2 "in time for the Holidays", Orange announced that the Toshiba TG01 will come exclusive to their network and would be available as early as July 10. The Toshiba TG01 will be another addition of the roster of high-end Orange phones.
This might be what Orange was referring to when they said that they would release more high end devices when they announced the LG mobile phone watch. You can get the Toshiba TG01 for free if you prefer to be locked in a 2 year contract for £39.15 a month tariff.
The Toshiba TG01 is nice and all, I just want to see the 1GHz processor in action on this device. This would also be a nice addition to the Samsung i8910 which is also currently one of the most sought after Orange phones in the market.
What? Motorola is still alive and kicking? That alone is news enough for me but to think that they've actually developed a drool worthy phone (after two years), well, that's enough to create a stir in the blogosphere.
The Motorola ROKR ZN50 is a full touchscreen slider phone with 3.2 inch touchscreen, HSDPA, Bluetooth, microSD, GPS, T-DMB2 Digital TV Tuner, GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera, and has 3 homescreens. Although the device is looking very slick, I'm disappointed that Motorola didn't put a worthy OS on this device like Android or WinMo, hey, even Symbian will do, but I guess we can't really ask that much from Motorola. It took them two years to finally come up with such a slick device after the RAZR2, but leave it to them to not market it here in Europe.
The Motorola ROKR ZN50 will be available in Korea but there's no word if it would reach European shores.
I don't know why Orange decided to include the LG GD910 mobile phone watch in their mobile phone portfolio. Honestly, I think watch phones are just novelty gimmicks since some of the China made watch phones I've seen are about the size of a wall clock. However, LG is able to squeeze the size of the GD910 down to a regular watch.
Seeing the demo video, I was reminded of James Bond. The LG GD910 looks really awesome--in the video, at least. Let's just hope that in real life, it would be able to deliver the same performance. I know the reason I'm not so much into video calling is because videos are still choppy.
The LG GD910 has bluetooth, 3G, speakerphone, and a capacitive touchscreen. Of course, texting on this device would be a REAL pain. The LG GD910 is expected to retail for £1,000 and will be available in August. I don't know if the £1,000 price tag is already subsidized by Orange and if they would include this in under their Orange contract phones but probably not since 1000 quid is still a lot of money to pay for a subsidized phone, even if the LG GD910 is a cool gadget.
If that's just too much of a price for you, you can check out some Chinda made ones for under 200 Quid complete with Bluetooth, webcam, and a stylus. Of course, in the world of watch phones, the cheaper they are, the bigger they come.
For those complaining that O2 salespersons have nothing better to suggest than the iPhone, well, this is good news for you coz O2 will stock another good phone on their shelves aside from the iPhone: The Palm Pre.
According to a Palm press release, the Palm Pre will initially be available in UK, Ireland and Germany, exclusively to O2 and in Spain on Movistar. Of course, knowing Palm, the release date is very vague, they just mentioned, "in time for the holidays" (Holidays when? Next year?!). When Palm first introduced the Palm Pre early this year, I thought they would release it soon because Sprint's exclusivity deal with the Pre will only last for the first half of the year but as Palm fans waited and waited, Palm and Sprint were only able to release the Pre last June. So forgive me if I'm a bit skeptic about the "in time for the holidays" statement. Of course, O2 Germany already has a news flash that the Pre will be available as early as October. Again, Palm fans would have to cross their fingers that the launch date will push through.
Palm UK listed the Pre's specifications as having HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM but omitted the frequencies. Hopefully, the frequencies would be compatible with frequencies here in Europe or they might as well make their own epitaphs. Here's a rundown of the Palm Pre's specifications:
HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM
Integrated GPS
Large 3.1-inch touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color 320x480 resolution HVGA display
Gesture area, which enables simple, intuitive gestures for navigation
Slide-out keyboard (QWERTY in UK, Ireland and Spain, QWERTZ in Germany)
Email, including support for corporate servers with Microsoft Exchange, as well as personal email support (POP3, IMAP)
Robust messaging support (IM, SMS and MMS capabilities)
High-performance, desktop-class web browser
Great multimedia experience and performance (pictures, video playback, music), featuring a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash and extended depth of field, and a standard 3.5mm headset jack
Bluetooth(R) 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
8GB internal memory (~7GB user available)
USB mass storage mode
MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Proximity sensor, which automatically disables the touch screen and turns off the display whenever you put the phone up to your ear
Light sensor, which dims the display if the ambient light is dark, such as at night or in a movie theater, to reduce power usage
Accelerometer, which automatically orients web pages and photos to your perspective
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Ringer switch, which easily silences the device with one touch
Removable, rechargeable battery
Dimensions: 59.57mm (W) x 100.53mm (L, closed) x 16.95mm (D)
Weight: 135 grams
Personally, I'm excited. I just hope they release this soon or my excitement would fizzle.
Again, I really envy HTC Touch HD and Touch Pro users. Over at Xda-developers.com, they already have a working version of Windows Mobile 6.5 running on their devices. Of course, it's not the official release but a lot of ROM builders have managed to create one which is still based on the original WinMo 6.5.
So I thought I would head on over to Modaco.com, which has a dedicated Samsung Omnia forum to see if Omnia ROM builders have also managed to create Windows Mobile 6.5 for Samsung Omnia. It turns out there are a lot of Windows Mobile 6.5 versions for the Omnia. Two of the best so far are from Sector and Shokka9. Sector's Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMs are still being update while Shokka9's ROM is in the final build and he said he would no longer update it.
I would be trying out one of their ROMs one of these days to see which one is better. I must admit, if I have the time, I would probably make my own ROM. It seems easy enough and Modaco already has a pinned thread about Cooking your own Windows Mobile 6.5 ROM so it would be a cinch to follow for those with the technical know-how.
For those thinking: what's a cooked ROM? It's an unofficial firmware for windows mobile or other mobile phone operating system made by a third person with customized applications and much more added functionality. Simply put, think about Vodafone and Orange and how much they've been branding their exclusive mobile phones with their own applications. You can say that the firmware/ROMs on their phones are made or customized by them so technically, it's a "cooked ROM".
Anyways, I have no idea if Samsung would release an official Windows Mobile 6.5 update for the Omnia but if they don't, we can always trust ROM cookers to put one out there for us.
I really don't know why you need an infrared night vision capable camera on a mobile phone, I mean, is it really worth taking a picture in a VERY dark place? Well---you probably would need it to take spy photos of your cheating husband in a strip club but other than that, I think this is just a novelty on a camera phone.
Anyways, aside from the infrared night vision camera, the Samsung SCH-W760 also has a 2.8" AMOLED screen, 8GB internal memory, and DMB TV tuner.
After having a look at a pre-release model of the Nokia N97 (you can check the review by visiting the link), I thought I might have a go at Symbian again and purchase my own N97. I mean, it's been a while since I've had a symbian phone and honestly, I miss the numbing simplicity of Symbian.
Of course, since what I've first seen is a pre-release version, I can't exactly base my next purchase on that phone I've seen so like any other good consumer, I scoured the net for N97 user reviews. At howardforums, they have an official thread of Nokia N97 bugs, issues and problems. Most common issues include the phone bricking after installing some apps...Not a good sign. There are like, 38 pages of issues, I know that most of the conversation doesn't revolve around the N97's bugs but as I browsed through them, it seems like hardware buttons and bricking are the most common problems.
Not a good sign. I'm being turned off as I read through the thread. On the other hand, I always buy my Nokia phones with a warranty so if any of these issues happen, I could always return mine. Anybody else have bugs and issues on their N97?
Those who've gotten their iPhone 3GS but are pissed that they can't jailbreak their phones or unlock it because the iPhone Dev Team hasn't release their software to unlock it yet, well, you can welcome purplera1n.
purplera1n is a jailbreak software for the iPhone 3GS made by the original iPhone unlocker: GeoHot. The link to the software and instructions are posted on his blog. Some say that when you've jailbreaked your iPhone 3GS, using the ultrasnow software should help you unlock it.
Well good luck and hope you don't brick your new iPhone 3GS.
The Samsung Omnia II i8000 is appealing to me more and more and I'm still torn between it and the Samsung B7610. And now this video review of the Omnia II pops up and I'm even more torn. The Samsung i8000 looks REALLY yummy and Samsung really did a good job of hiding its the WinMo OS, kinda like what HTC did with their TouchFlo 3D v.2.5. Here are some of the highlights. Video at the end courtesy of Samsung HDBlog.
Cube Interface
Remember that cube interface that Samsung copied from LG Arena and put on their Samsung Jet? Well, it's on the Samsung Omnia II and it looks REALLY nice on the i8000's 3.7 inch screen.
Three Homescreens
Like on the Android, the Samsung Omnia i8000 also has three homescreens which you can customized with widgets. You can change the homescreen by sweeping your finger left or right.
Customizeable Menu
Again, as with the Samsung Jet, you can customized your Menu Screen with your favorite applications. Samsung opted for a black background this time instead of white, I don't know whether to make the Samsung Omnia II more iPhone-like or just to make the interface more sleek.
Hidden Windows Mobile
You will hardly recognize that you're holding a Windows Mobile device since the latter is buried deep within TouchWiz. Even the Messaging application is all Samsung together with the Calendar.
Palm Pre-like "cards" or Xperia X1-like panels
Remember the "cards" application on the Palm Pre or the Xperia X1's panels? Samsung has a similar application only it's a taskmanager. You just press the center button and it would bring up the taskmanager which would bring up previews of all open applications. Now this application I like.
Final Thoughts
Of course, there have been reports that the Samsung Omnia II i8000 will already run Windows Mobile 6.5 when it will be released in Austria come September so I don't know if Samsung's TouchWiz would bury Winmo 6.5 or the latter would not be compatible with the former. We'll just have to wait and see.
It seems someone has discovered a vulnerability on the iPhone. Charlie Miller, has found a vulnerability that allows an attacker to send an SMS to an iPhone owner which would run a malicious code that would run different programs without the owner knowing.
Some of the things the malicious code could do include monitoring you using the phone's GPS, turn on the microphone so the attacker can eavesdrop on your conversation, or use your iPhone as a botnet or join a distributed denial of service attack.
Hmm, sounds like an iPhone spying program that's already in the wild. Anyways, the one who discovered the vulnerability is working with Apple to patch it so iPhone users need not worry.
Well, it's time again to take a look at all the new phones coming this July. Get your wallets and credit card ready or better start saving if your favorite mobile phone will be available this month.
HTC Hero
Recently announced but has been leaked to the public for some time now, the HTC Hero will be available on Orange this July. The HTC Hero is an Android device with HTC's new user interface: the HTC Sense. Check out my HTC Hero preview.
Toshiba TG01
I don't know if the Toshiba TG01 has already been released in Germany or other European countries but word has it that the TG01 will arrive in UK shores on July 9. The Toshiba TG01 has a massive 4.1 screen and a 1 GHz processor. Specs on this device is almost at par with a netbook, of course, it's still pricier unlocked compared with a netbook. Check my Toshiba TG01 preview. Update: The Toshiba TG01 will also be joining the roster of Orange phones.
Nokia N86
The Nokia N97 has certainly stole the thunder from various Nokia mobile phones but for Symbian fanatics who are not into Nokia touchscreen phones, Nokia will release the N86 for you. The N86 stuck with Nokia's best selling two-way slider design which is present on the N95 and N96. The Nokia N86 is also Nokia's first 8 megapixel mobile phone.
Nokia 6700
There are also those Nokia fans who wants to stick with Nokia's traditional, candy bar design so they may want to wait for the Nokia 6700 which is also slated for a July release. The Nokia 6700 is an HSDPA capable phone with a classic steel design and a 5 megapixel camera.
Samsung Galaxy i7500
The Samsung Galaxy has been available on O2 Germany during the last week of June. Hopefully, we would see it land UK shores this month, probably on O2 too. Unless, the HTC Hero overshadows it. Update: The Samsung Galaxy is indeed headed for O2 in the UK.
Update:
Samsung B7610 OmniaPro
Now this is what makes me excited. Samsung has just announced that the Samsung B7610 will be available as early as July with a retail price of EUR 499.The Samsung B7610 has a 3.5inch AMOLED screen, QWERTY keyboard, but only a 5 megapixel camera.
Well, it's not the official HTC Sense by HTC but a ported version made by some Italians. I previously said that if you can get the HTC Sense on an HTC Magic or better yet--the Samsung Galaxy i7500, then the HTC Hero would lose its luster, well it looks like the HTC Hero will be losing its luster sooner than later because of this ported ROM.
You have to flash your ROM in order to get the sexy interface plus multi-touch support. Of course, since this is not the official ROM from HTC expect issues such as hanging, WiFi and Bluetooth not working, etc. But hey, it's all good, especially if you just want to have bragging rights. Video below and link to the HTC Sense ROM for G1 <-- here.
For any feedback or queries, you can contact me at: feedback[AT]cellphone-reviews[.]co[.]uk. You can also reach me here if you want me to review a phone or product.
