Monthly Archive for November, 2009
Whether it is Christmas or Xmas, all we know is that it is time to celebrate and receive free goodies especially when it is less than 4 weeks away. Cue horrific stampedes for meaningless ornamental tat, expensive scented things and ghastly knitted items that do not match. This could of course be avoided and you can get free gifts that would be very useful to you and your family. The elves at Omio have decided to outlay some of the best phone gift ideas all available on Pay as you go.
Samsung Genio Touch
Samsung’s Genio Touch is out to be the season’s best seller. It is gorgeous and quite simple. It also comes in handy thanks to its wide profile, unique TouchWiz interface and highly responsive 2.8” capacitive touchscreen. It also showcases Samsung range of colourful snap-on helps to make you stand out of the crowd. It is sold preloaded with a wide range of widgets including Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube. The Price for the Genio Touch is at £62.50 at Mobile Express although it is reportedly sold at £110.
Samsung S5230 ‘Tocco’ Lite
If you prefer quality over quantity then you would definitely love the Samsung S4230 Tocco Lite. It is a little bit more formal than the Tocco. It was released earlier this year as an offspring of the Tocco family. It was initially selling for between £80 and £130 although it is now available for half of that. This Samsung device definitely brings high end features to the entry level market.
Tags: Samsung-Genio-Touch, Samsung-Tocco-Lite
The Palm Pixi is the highly anticipated follow up to the over-hyped Pre. As we all know the popular saying that beauty develops over time, the same was the case with Palm Pixi but this time it took only three months.
Palm has not given its say as to whether the Pixi will be released to the UK market. But it’s only a matter of time. The beginning of the new year is not far away and one can only sit and wait.
Despite the fact that it possesses a slow processor, does not have Wi-Fi, and the camera quality is just fair (about 2 Mega Pixel), this smaller model is actually a better device than the Palm Pre.
Although some of the features conspicuously absent in the Palm Pixi will surely mystify this model from the Blackberry and “app phone” congregation who are aligned to the much fancied Apple iPhone nevertheless the Pixi itself has some desirable features such as its improved WebOS platform and several hardware upgrades that most likely may be overlooked in an avenue to dispose of the Pixi as a consumer mobile device.
Let’s face it, Wi-Fi is no longer becoming important as 3G access becomes the order of the day (which is definitely a glaring omission), and yes it is pleasurable to be able to download large files across Gmail through a router from the luxury of your living room.
Furthermore, it is no longer news that most public hotspots at coffee shops and airports are not accessible compared to 3G network which is fast, dependable, steady and also available in major cities.
Tags: Palm-Pixi
It may be optional but the LG GD510 Pop sports a solar paneled back casing. While a few devices like these will not stop greenhouse gases, the effort certainly helps. Nothing brings out that eco-friendly spirit than seeing a sleek, futuristic looking mobile phone sporting a series of solar panels.
Of course, there is more to this mobile phone than its eco-friendly attitude. The main feature of the Pop is its full touch screen experience (well, almost full). The only time users will not be using the touch screen is when using the context-based button on the lower right corner. This button will function depending on the current phone activity (back or home, answer call or end call).
The Spec Sheet Review
The LG GD510 brings a 3 inch touch screen into the forefront, of course, this is the only thing you will be using with the phone, so it better be good; and it is. The screen is responsive and accurate when tracking finger movements. The 240 x 400 pixels of resolution provide a decent amount of lines for all icons and text.
Missing in this device is 3G HSDPA and WiFi, it’s really a big limitation in terms of internet connectivity. While EDGE is still available (and GPRS), there is a lot of convenience in having 3G. Hopefully, the next phone in this series will have this feature.
Internal memory space is not a problem for GD510 owners. 8GB is a lot of space (far larger than in most smart phones) for storing images and videos that you can shoot with the 3 mega pixel camera. The device also has micro USB and micro SD for transferring files.
Available on Contract
LG GD510 Pop deals are available in the UK through various carriers. Orange Mobile currently has the device for free on the Dolphin 30 plan. There are also two year contracts available on Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2.
Tags: LG-GD510-Pop
I am delighted to be able to reveal some great news for owners of Samsung S8000 Jet. There is now a new firmware update for this mobile device which brings an array of goodies for your mobile phone. Well, it’s been pretty long since it first showed up and there is a great likelihood that most peeps have missed it.
There are now lots of changes to the firmware, all thanks to the S8000XE112 update. It brings a lot of features, one of which is a different 3D Cube background. Also now included are some new widgets for popular social bookmarking sites such as Twitter, MySpace and even Facebook. The main menu icons can now also be rearranged.
According to the information received from users who have tried out this new update, they all concur that the device is now zippier. The WebKit-based Dolphin Web browser did not go untouched with this update. It has now been improved with the media browser. The thumbnails now load much faster and the scrolling speed has significantly improved.
Despite the positives, the images open a bit slower than before (It takes about two sec or more to open an image) and the volume rocker is no longer used to zoom in/zoom out but rather for scrolling through web pages.
The media player has also been revitalized as well. This new updates brings about a landscape view support to the Samsung S8000 which holds a strong resemblance to the iPhone’s Cover Flow.
As we all noticed, there is really a lot to unravel about this latest update of the Jet and many are surreptitious changes that haven’t been noticed yet. You can share your views in the comments section.
In addendum, since the update of this latest PC Studio application is still in the beta stage, You can download the working version of the S8000XE112 firmware from darkforestgroup.com
Tags: Samsung-Jet-S8000
The results of the recent research that Camiant conducted have been released with the name ‘Rethinking Mobile Broadband Data Rate Plans’.
This study reveals the fact that if the plans for mobile broadband services are redesigned, operators are going to help in solving one of the pressing concerns of the industry, “bandwidth-value gap” According to them, this gap is the difference between the demand of bandwidth and the increase in revenue.
Camiant has pointed out that if you go by the researches of Heavy Reading (a research firm), 3G mobile network’s bandwidth is rapidly increasing by 400 percent on an annual basis, whereas associated revenues is also increasing at a steady rate of 40 percent. This study indicates the consumers are more or less interested in the data plans for controlling bandwidth and they are less bothered by the traditional ‘Cap + Overage’ plans. This plan is strict on usage cap and has steep overage penalty.
Camiant commissioned the study in September 2009 alongside Heavy Reading, who joined them a month later. More than 250 mobile broadband dongle users from Europe were involved in the survey. People from Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and UK were all included in the survey.
The research even revealed that a number of users have been willing to make a payment of additional fees, if they were provided with a little bit of extras in the services. 43 percents of the participants of the survey were willing to pay €5 apart from the base plan, if they get unlimited usage of any particular application.
Tags: Mobile-Broadband-Research
Developing for the Android takes serious technical know-how, and with the Android’s feet firmly planted in the republic of all things that is open source, there are a lot of wildcards and technical considerations that often require a quick forum inquiry or even a call to a more experienced programmer.
ARM has created the “Solution Center”, a great help and resource hub for everyone who would like to contribute to the improvement of the Android operating system. This is not for application developers (though in some ways it can be) but it is more for phone developers and designers who would like to use the Android to fully make the best use out of ARM hardware.
ARM recognizes the great potential in the Google Android operating system and believes that “the Android platform represents a fundamental change in the open source ecosystem” (to quote Kevin Smith, Vice President of Segment Marketing for ARM). This recognition from ARM just added another brick to the pedestal of the Android, which has slowly, but surely been making its way to the top since 2008.
For the Google Android to get its own Solution Center from ARM is more than just a boost to its credentials, but it also puts it far above its competitors. With plenty of WinMo phone manufacturers making their own Android phones, Google knows that it has achieved a feat that no other mobile operating system could attain.
The big twist now comes in the new rumors that Google is releasing its own Android mobile phone soon. With ARM telling manufacturers how to use their chips better for the Android OS, getting competition straight from the developer seems to deliver a different message.
There is no confirmation on whether the Solution Center focuses on the currently known 1.6 and lower version or if it also covers the recently released version 2.0 (until this week, Motorola is the only manufacturer to have the Éclair SDK).
Tags: Android
If you are currently on Orange Mobile UK and are a big user of Twitter, then you have probably heard of the new connectivity feature. If not, go to Orange World and sign up your account for this useful feature.
Orange World is a unique social network consolidation feature on Orange Mobile. They will connect various Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other supported network accounts to a mobile phone. This will allow users to view updates on all accounts into a single easily viewable feed. This makes it easier for users to stay on top of updates and new posts online without having to log in to each site manually.
The big Twitter add on feature focuses on being able to send and receive Tweets on your mobile phone -through text! This nice little feature is delivered exclusively (for now) by Orange Mobile to their Orange World users. Orange subscribers can easily sign up for this free service to avail of the text-based Tweeting.
For many, this is a nice little feature; but for some people, being able to receive tweets as text messages on the phone can be daunting –particularly if you receive hundreds of Tweet in a single day. Fortunately, Orange has their backs covered too. Active Twitterfolk can set to receive Tweets only from specific contacts, and can also set at which time they will be receive the new Tweets. This will help control the incoming flow of Tweets on a user’s device.
Another additional feature of this Twitter add-on is the ability to upload images to Twitter from your mobile phone via MMS. Though this feature will cost you a little more as each image Tweet will be charged as MMS or be credited from your allotted MMS on your plan. Expect many Orange users to take advantage of this new feature.
Tags: Orange, Twitter
Okay, the Samsung Galaxy Lite is a truly impressive 3G smart phone. It may have watered down the camera and completely did away with the large storage capabilities of the original Galaxy, but the Lite gets to keep all the other features, including the amazing AMOLED touch screen.
The bottom line is that if you really want a great mobile phone on a budget, then this would be the prefect choice. If it was not for the announcement canceling the November launch and having the device pushed to next year; with the HTC Tattoo and T-Mobile Pulse also stepping into the range of cheap Android devices, the delays for the Galaxy Lite might prove bad for Samsung. Not everyone is willing to wait until next year just to try the Android Cupcake on an AMOLED touch screen
No Change in Specs
Galaxy is definitely delayed but no changes to its hardware have been announced. The i5700 Galaxy will hold all of the original specifications it has since it was announced. Users will enjoy its 3 inch AMOLED touch screen, 1 GB of internal memory, 3.2 mega pixel camera, among other features. The device will be running Google’s Android 1.5 Cupcake.
The original demo videos of the devices showcased excellent screen brightness and fast response. Seems like the Qualcomm 528 MHz processor makes the device run pretty smoothly, the only question is what kinds of proprietary applications Samsung will be giving this device.
More on the Android and Lite
When the Galaxy Lite news first broke out, initial reports hinted that the device would be using the TouchWiz user interface, now that it has been confirmed to be an Android phone, it has captured the attention of many Android fans. It has also been confirmed that Samsung has gotten the i5700 Galaxy Lite a Google Experience certification.
Tags: Samsung-i5700-Galaxy-Lite
Using a touch screen for the Android operating system is fun, but if you really want to make use of all the features, you cannot rely on the flimsy onscreen keyboard. You need both a touch screen and physical keyboard to fully make use of the Google mobile operating system. Android has a lot of web integrated applications, Google mobile applications focus a lot on messaging particularly with Google Talk and Google Mail. Not to mention that the Android has its own document processing application. LG knows this and they have the designed the LG GW620 to be fully ready for the Android with a 3 inch touch screen and a physical slide out keyboard.
Lacking More
The big drawback with the LG GW620 is that in the end, it is just a basic mobile phone. A little too old-school for most updated hardware fans, the GW620 will not last long against the steep competition at the end of this year and next year when even more Android devices pop out. But for the rest of the world that would like to try just about any Android phone, then this makes for a good alternative for anyone who does not appreciate HTC’s phone designs (those tend to look alike).
More From LG
At this point, the better GW620 contracts will still pale in comparison to deals for HTC Android smart phones. Looks like LG has also realized that their first attempt at the Android operating system might not break into the market well. They have just announced recently that they are currently working on a second Android smart phone and this time, they are upping the ante by using a Qualcomm 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. Had the GW620 been released several months earlier, it may have fared a little better.
Tags: LG-GW620
The Sony Ericsson XPERIA lineup was originally supposed to be their best of the best mobile phone series. Not that the first two devices ever lived up to the expectations, but at least they tried. The upcoming XPERIA X10 is set to totally reboot the phone series and give it the top end hardware it deserves by bringing together the Android operating system and a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Just when we think that the XPERIA series is back on track, Sony Ericsson decides to blindside everyone by suddenly announcing that the concept design phone Kiki will be released as the XPERIA Pureness.
Concept to Reality
When Kiki was first heard about, we knew that this was a concept phone and it would stay that way. The idea of having a transparent see through screen is interesting but that is hardly what anyone wants to have in a mobile phone. In the end, see through screens lose functionality in the inability to display images properly and clearly. Still, this did not stop Sony from creating the Pureness. They are dubbing this device to have the pureness and clarity of water. Well, what we do know is that this mobile device concept is still too wet behind the ears. At least they are trying, and other Xperia Pureness reviews would agree that innovation is still a good step for any major company.
Still a GSM Phone
The phone will definitely not be a 3G device; the screen would simply waste all the potential. You can probably bag this mobile at a good price if you look around for some upcoming SE Xperia Pureness deals this month as the release arrives. Despite being a basic GSM device, it seems to have some music playing capabilities and hopefully, Bluetooth support for wireless accessories.
Tags: Sony-Ericsson-XPERIA-Pureness
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