So finally, you don't have to resort to importing your Nokia N900 from Germany as it has finally landed in UK shores. Looks like Mobiles.co.uk delivered on their promise (although a few days late) to bring the Nokia N900 to the UK this December.
And as promised, mobiles.co.uk is offering the Nokia N900 for £79.99 with a Vodafone £25 monthly tariff, although the phone comes unlocked, which means you can pop any sim you choose, mobiles.co.uk is currently only offering the N900 with a Vodafone contract but it looks like O2 and T-Mobile will soon follow.
Remember the Palm Pre? You know the phone that's supposed to save Palm from bankruptcy? The one that was also set up to be an iPhone killer and the one which is currently selling on O2? Well, if it doesn't ring any bell, it's probably because of its failed marketing in the UK. Apparently, O2 seems to have loads and loads of stock of Palm Pre and in order to boost sales, one of its partners, Carphone Warehouse, is offering two free return flights to one of 15 European destinations if you buy the Palm Pre before January 31st.
The Palm Pre is available for free starting at £45 a month tariff on O2. Unsubsidized price of the Palm Pre starts at around £499.99.
Remember that iPhone keyboard I posted a few weeks back? Well, if you want to go wireless, you can now use an Apple Bluetooth keyboard with your iPhone. Yep, all you need is a BTstack keyboard from Cydia (the jailbroken app store) for $5 and you can now use your Apple Bluetooth keyboard with your iPhone.
By the way, before I forget and stuff myself with Christmas dinner...MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!! I hope everybody got their most desired mobile phones this Christmas. I know I did. :)
Tethering your mobile phone means using your phone as a modem so you can connect your PC or laptop to the Internet.
Do you have to pay to use tethering? It would depend on your tariff/contract details. In other countries, even when you are subscribed to unlimited data plan, when you tether your phone, some carriers would charge you because internet tethering usually eats up more bandwidth. If you're on PAYG, you would normally need to subscribe or pay for a monthly data plan.
What software/tools do I need in order to be able to use my phone as a modem? For tools, you would normally just need a USB cable to be able to connect your phone to your PC or a Bluetooth dongle (or PC/laptop with Bluetooth capabilities). As for software requirements, regular phones made by Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson usually needs their own PC Suite software in order to be able to connect to the internet. For Windows Mobile Phones, you just need to have the internet sharing option on your phone.
I have already connected my phone to my PC but I still can't access the Internet? Check that your phone's internet settings is correct or call your carrier to provide you with the correct internet settings. Be sure to specify if you're on PAYG or on a monthly plan as some carriers have different APNs for PAYG and pay monthly customers.
So let the battle for the best iPhone Tariff deal begin. Vodafone has just recently put up the iPhone on Pre-order and since none of the major carriers are cutting the price of their iPhone, they're making up for it by enticing you to buy your iPhones with them because of their "best tariff deals".
Vodafone for their part is enticing their customers by providing free Vodafone to Vodafone calls for the rest of the tariff duration but only for customers who pre-order the iPhone before January 14th 2010.
Vodafone iPhone tariff also includes 1GB Mobile Internet bundle, that's 250MB more than what Orange is offering and although O2 is offering "unlimited" mobile internet, it's subject to their 'fair usage' policy which could mean they're also putting in a cap on your mobile internet connection without you knowing.
Vodafone also allows tethering which means you can use your iPhone as a modem, but this is also subject to your mobile internet bundle cap. iPhone tariffs also include free WiFi but they only have a 1GB monthly allowance.
Finally! My Motorola Milestone finally arrived!!!! Now I can finally get some quality time with this mobile phone. I'll update my mini Motorola Milestone review once I get spend a few weeks with it. In the meantime, here's some pics. Again, if you want one, you can buy Motorola Milestone at Expansys.
Those waiting to get the Motorola Milestone mobile phone over at Expansys but wasn't able to because it was out of stock, you can now order your Milestone because Expansys just got fresh stocks. Hurry up and order yours now before it goes out of stock again. For those not in the know, the Motorola Milestone is just the 2nd most popular mobile phone today and is hailed in the states as the biggest iPhone competitor. Check my mini Motorola Milestone review.
And for those who've already made up their minds to order the Motorola Milestone mobile phone, here's an early Christmas gift for you: £5 Voucher Code. Just type in JHF7650171 at the voucher code field on checkout and you can get £5 off on £20 or above orders.
Nokia 1661 The Good: Dirt Cheap, only £20 at Vodafone or £7.95 over at dial-a-phone. You can't get any cheaper than that. For less than £20 you have a colored mobile phone with flashlight, FM radio and basic messaging and MMS. That's the most you can get out of this phone, it doesn't have a camera or an MP3 player and you can't even assign ringtones to your contacts. Call quality is average and the design is very basic.
The Bad: For a very basic phone you'd expect it to have a higher than average call quality but sadly, everything's average about this phone except the price. For long commutes you can listen to the radio or play with the three pre-installed games but that's it.
MID-RANGE
Nokia 2730 The Good: I chose the Nokia 2730 as the best choice for a midrange phone mainly because of one reason: 3G. The Nokia 2730 is the cheapest 3G phone you can find nowadays. Nokia also packed the 2730 with features such as 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth with A2DP, microSD and an FM radio. The Nokia 2730 also features a sleek design.
The Bad: Of course since Nokia can't even make their most expensive phones right, don't expect a lot out of your 2730. Picture quality of the 2 megapixel camera is poor and audio quality is average but again, the 3G feature lets you browse the web. Be sure to install Opera Mini though as their pre-installed browser is crap.
HIGH END
Nokia 5800
The Good: For less than £200 you'll get a touchscreen smartphone with the Nokia 5800. All of the features of a mainstream smartphone is on the Nokia 5800: 5 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, WiFi, 3G, GPS, FM radio. The Nokia 5800 is also a very good music player and has a 3.5mm headset jack on board.
The Bad: So, what is everyone looking for in a touchscreen phone? That cool iPhone flicking interface. Unfortunately, the 5800 isn't so finger flicking friendly. You have to use the scroll bars on the side a lot. The 5800 also has a resistive touchscreen so it's not as responsive as its Samsung counterpart: the i8910 HD. For a full review, check out my Nokia 5800 review.
Talks has been spreading all over the Blogosphere that Google Employees have in their hands a Google Phone. Now I know what you're thinking, I thought the Google G1 was supposed to be the Google Phone? Well, the G1 isn't actually made by Google but by HTC, maker of the HTC Hero, HTC Diamond2 and other smartphones that runs Windows Mobile or Android. Now Android is the mobile phone OS made by Google which is the OS on the Google G1. Anyways, this supposed Google Phone will be all Google branded and although it seems that it's HTC who manufactured the phone, I still don't get how this Nexus One will be different from the first supposed Google phone, the Google G1.
Anyways, the Nexus One will be running the same processor as the HTC HD2 and will have a 3.7 inch AMOLED screen and 5 megapixel camera. The Google Phone will also be running the latest Android software which some say, is faster and has more 3D rendering than the Motorola Droid. Unlike the Motorola Milestone, the Google Phone will not have a physical keyboard.
I've inserted a picture of the Google Phone courtesy of engadgetmobile and frankly, I don't see anything sexy about it. In fact, the Google Phone reminds me of the first generation HTC Touch phones, nothing really sexy about it. Although a faster processor and an updated Android OS seems nice, that still wouldn't stop me from buying the Milestone. Glad I didn't hold off my pre-order.
I know that I've blogged that the Nokia N900 was already available in the UK, at least, through Expansys. Well, since that post, Nokia has delayed the launch of the Nokia N900 and the latest news is that it would be available on December 21st at mobiles.co.uk.
However, don't rejoice just yet because there's only limited stocks available. So if you really want to get your hands on the Nokia N900, better pre-order now. Best deal that mobiles.co.uk is offering is £79.99 for the Nokia N900 with a 24 month contract with Vodafone with 600 minutes, unlimited text and Vodafone passport.
So, you've probably seen those video ads of the Motorola Milestone floating around right? If not, well, you can watch the video below. Frankly, I like the Droid ads in the US better compared with this boring ad. I mean, there's really nothing about this ad that would grab anyone's attention. Seriously, if Motorola doesn't revamp their Motorola Milestone ad, they would fail to take off here in Europe. For comparison purposes, I've included the Droid Does ads as well.
Samsung has been doing a pretty good job of covering up WinMo with their TouchWiz interface and they did a good job with the Samsung Jet as well. In fact, whenever they put their TouchWiz interface in any of their mobile phones it looks like their own mobile OS so it's no wonder that they finally decided to built their own OS and it's called: Bada.
Although some might dismiss Samsung's Bada as nothing more than a java based platform, look again. At Bada's launch event in London, Samsung brought along their app partners such as Gameloft, Capcom, EA, and Twitter. Of course, these partners might just be bringing along their java applications but hopefully, we'll see something more. Who knows, Samsung might be able to compete with the iPhone's app store.
Everyone wants a mobile phone these days and mobile phones are probably on everybody's wish list. You don't have to break the bank though in order to give your child or teener a mobile phone this Christmas. Here are some of the cheapest mobile phones you can get on Pay as You Go plans.
Nokia 1661
The cheapest mobile phone you can get on pay as you for only £20 on Vodafone Ltd is the Nokia 1661. It doesn't come with a lot of bells and whistles though, for £20 you only get a basic phone with an FM radio and music player though you're only limited to 8MB of internal memory.
You can get the Nokia 1661 unlocked with Vodafone Pay as you go sim for only £14.90 at Mobiles.co.uk.
Or if you wanna go dirt cheap, the Nokia 1661 is only £7.95 at carphonewarehouse with a Virginmobile pay as you go sim and when bought with a £10 airtime. Same deal over at Dial-a-Phone only it's with a T-Mobile sim.
Nokia 2730 For £30 more, you can get the Nokia 2730 which has 3G, Bluetooth with A2DP, microSD slot for your music, 2 megapixel camera, and an FM radio for only £50 with £50 worth of calls and texts at Vodafone Ltd.
If you want it with a 3 sim, you can get it for only £49.95 but you have to purchase £10 airtime over at Dial-a-Phone.
Sony Ericsson W595 The Sony Ericsson W595 is not a new phone but it's one of Sony Ericsson's more popular phones mainly because it's cute and cheap. Over at Vodafone Ltd, you can get it for £100 with £50 worth of calls and texts.
The Sony Ericsson W595 is a music phone with 3G, shake control, accelerometer, Memory Stick Micro, Bluetooth with A2DP, FM radio, and 3.2 megapixel camera.
Carphonewarehouse's prices aren't cheap and you'll end up paying more than £100. Dial-a-Phone on the other hand, has the Sony Ericsson W595 for only £69.95 if bought with £10 airtime but they only have it with an Orange sim.
Samsung Genio Touch If you're into touchscreen mobile phones, the Samsung Genio Touch is the best value touchscreen mobile phone on the scene today. It has interchangeable back covers, Bluetooth with A2DP, 2 megapixel camera with smile detection, music player, FM radio, web browser, and a microSD slot. Vodafone Ltd is offering the Samsung Genio Touch for £80 with a pay as you go sim and £100 worth of calls and texts.
If you're looking for Orange pay as you go, Mobiles.co.uk has the Samsung Genio Touch for only £73.90. At carphonewarehouse, the Genio Touch's cheapest price is £66.63 with a T-Mobile or Virgin sim and if bought with £10 airtime.
Dial-a-Phone seems to have the cheapest price for the Genio Touch on pay as you go for Vodafone and Orange sim even if bought with £10 airtime.
Samsung Tocco Lite Even before the Samsung Genio Touch was introduced, the Samsung Tocco Lite is the most popular and cheap touchscreen phone on the market, competing with the LG Cookie. It's still popular and available and you'll only have to shell out £90 on Vodafone Ltd and also includes £100 worth of free calls and texts. For £10 more than the Genio Touch, you'll get a more sophisticated looking phone and a better camera.
Mobiles.co.uk is offering the Samsung Tocco Lite for only £77.90 with a Vodafone sim or £79.90 with an Orange, O2 or T-Mobile sim.
Dial-a-Phone and carphonewarehouse prices for the Samsung Tocco Lite on pay as you go is about the same, £79.95 when bought with £10 airtime either with Vodafone or Orange.
Ever since I've had my first windows mobile phone, I already purchased myself a separate keyboard, one was an infrared keyboard when infrared was still a must on mobile phones and another, a bluetooth keyboard when infrared was phased out of smartphones. So I was just wondering, why the heck isn't there one for the iPhone?
It's really too bad because the Freedom Slim keyboard would've looked awesome with the iPhone. Anyways if you really want a physical keyboard badly for your iPhone, you might want to wait for the iTwinge, a physical keyboard that fits over the iPhone screen. It's actually kinda like the keyboard on the Sony Ericsson P800. Well have a look at the video below and see if it's for you.
Stumped on what to get someone this Christmas? Well, judging from the fact that almost everyone in the UK owns a mobile phone, getting someone a mobile phone accessory such as a carrying case, headphones, screen protectors, etc won't be such a bad idea. Mobilefun.co.uk has a variety of mobile phone accessories for you and if you did find something there, why not use this voucher code: MFAWDECR9 to receive a £5 discount off a £25 spend
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.
