Samsung Vodafone 360 H1

February 5th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung Mobile Phones, Vodafone

The Samsung Vodafone 360 H1, with its rather clunky name, is something a little different. It is a tie-up between manufacturer Samsung and network Vodafone as a handset for the Vodafone 360 service, and only available on a Vodafone mobile phone contract.

It’s primarily a social networking phone, and as such, the set up is quite unusual. Instead of a normal home screen, this is based around your contacts, whilst the three buttons under the screen are for apps, events, and contacts. There’s been nothing like it, and clearing the touchscreen brings up contacts. Touching a particular name allows access to texting or phoning them.

It sounds straightforward but it’s not, as beyond contacts the icons aren’t obvious, and it takes time and effort to come to a full understanding of them. Apps and menu items are merged, which can be good in some situations, as with the music player. Apps are available from the Vodafone 360 store.

It uses Linux Mobile, another innovation, but Samsung’s done a lot with it. However, it can be sluggish at times, especially when using the onscreen QWERTY keyboard. With 3.5G, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 16GB of onboard memory, it has a lot going for it, and the camera is a generous five megapixels that takes some excellent shots. Call quality is also excellent.

In short, it’s a phone that offers a great deal. The problem is learning to use it properly, which isn’t easy. However, for those willing to put in the time, the rewards can be great indeed.

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Why it’s important to recycle your old mobile phones

February 3rd, 2010 | Mobile Phone Recycling, Mobile Technology

It is estimated that more than 20 million mobile phones will be upgraded annually in the UK and that each household has an average of four unused old mobile phones lying around. These old mobiles lose their value rapidly and eventually become worthless, being thrown out with normal household rubbish. This leads to many old mobile phones being dumped in landfill sites, allowing the dangerous and toxic materials used in their manufacture to escape into the environment.

A good way to prevent these chemicals from damaging the environment and to cash in on the value of your old mobile phones is to use a service such a Mazuma or Envirophone. These mobile phone recycling services offer to take your old mobile phones for cash and reuse them. If they are not fit to be reused they will also recycle them for free.

Approximately 80% of the materials that go into making a mobile phone can be reclaimed and recycled. This lessens the demand placed on our planet’s natural resources and reduces the impact on natural habitats, such as that of the endangered lowland gorillas in the Congo. The Congo is the source of the majority of the world’s supplies of Coltan ore from which many of the metals used in mobile phones are extracted.

Selling mobile phones in this manner is quick, easy and secure. You can also take comfort in the fact that your old phone will be going on to be used by someone else and is not ending up at the dump.  You will also of course get a little cash for mobile phone.

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Samsung Genio Review

January 29th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung Mobile Phones

Having scored such a big hit with the young crowd with the Tocco Lite, it’s perfectly understandable that the company would attempt another home run in the same demographic, so cue the Samsung Genio mobile phone.

The first giveaway is the brightly coloured back cover on the phone, and the very simple interface, consisting of just call, end, and menu buttons. The resistive touchscreen is just 2.8”, and could have been bigger. Physically, the handset is not as long as the Tocco Lite, but thicker and wider, although it does sit neatly in the hand.

It responds well moving from portrait to landscape modes, and a good touch is a slight vibration when the screen is pressed, acting as confirmation. However, the Tocco Lite offers greater screen responsiveness. Strangely, there’s no onscreen QWERTY keyboard, just a regular mobile phone keypad, although its large size does making messaging very easy for even the largest fingers.

It can view documents in Word, and even Excel and PDF – pretty good for a phone of this calibre, while, understandably, there’s a YouTube app, and even FM radio. The music player is good, supporting most major file formats. The camera is a letdown, however, at only two megapixels and no autofocus – it’s not aimed at those taking many pictures.

One big question is why Samsung Mobile Phones felt the need to offer a variation on the Tocco Lite, especially when this one isn’t anywhere near as good. It would have made more sense to avoid the failings in the other phone instead.

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Mobile Broadband To Suit Every Budget

January 26th, 2010 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Mobile Technology, Wireless Technology

If you are looking to purchase a dongle for internet access on the move it is a good idea to ensure that you compare mobile broadband packages. All providers have varying mobile broadband deals and the speeds, prices and download limits vary greatly. If you are planning to opt for a mobile broadband contract these are generally available for 12, 18 or 24 months and you can expect to pay between £10 and £30 per month. However, as with mobile phones you can also opt to purchase a pay as you go dongle that you top up as required, however you do have to purchase the dongle up front which can cost in the region of £60. You will find that most of the networks operate a fair use policy for download limits.

The mobile broadband comparison is necessary as all of the networks have options to suit every budget. For example, Vodafone offer their Ultimate Plan on a 24 months contract. You can expect to achieve speeds up to 7.2Mb and you can download up to 5Gb per month. On this contract the first three months are as low as £10 rising to £25. However, at the other end of the spectrum Vodafone have a standard option with free dongle for 3Gb usage per month at the cost of just £15.

However, it is worth noting that no matter which network you opt for that you should check coverage in your area to ensure that a service is available.

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Blackberry Bold 9700 Review

January 25th, 2010 | Blackberry, Mobile Phone Reviews

There’s no question that Blackberry mobiles phones are among the very best smartphones, and with the Blackberry Bold 9700 (the successor to the 9700, acclaimed in mobile phone reviews), they’ve made some significant improvements.

It’s much sleeker than its parent, and that’s not a bad thing. It has kept some aspects from the 9700, but it’s smaller, fits a little more easily in the hand, and is decidedly lighter.

The QWERTY keyboard is very similar to other Bolds, but then there’s little that could have been done to make it better. This is a little smaller, but still an absolute pleasure to use, and only likely to be problematic for those with large fingers.

Handset maker RIM has brought the trackpad that has been used elsewhere to the Bold 9700, unlike the trackball of previous models. It is much superior for navigating, giving the user a much better and smoother experience.

Although the screen is a little larger than the 9700, the increase is only slight – indeed, barely noticeable – and smaller than many competitors. The processor is snappy, utilising the Blackberry 5.0 OS, so browsing is a pleasure, with none of the lag associated with older models.

The camera is much improved, and the 3.2 megapixels offer very crisp pictures, although the Bold 9700 only has 2x digital zoom, instead of the previous 3x, but it’s hard to tell the difference.

Blackberry mobiles phones have never been ones to have all the latest bells and whistles. But they do what they do very well, and this is one of the best yet.

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Nokia E72 Smartphone Review

January 21st, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Nokia

The Nokia E72 is the newest Nokia mobile phone, one which has been anticipated for a good six months as the successor to the widely lauded E71. It’s a phone that has a lot going for it, designed as a business phone and so yet another direct challenge to the supremacy of the Blackberry in the field.

Since messaging is vital, the QWERTY keyboard is important, and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s small but easy to use, with domed keys, and with enough spacing so that fingers don’t become cramped. There’s a great deal of mail support and you can use several accounts at once – a big bonus for those on the go; corporate mail can be pushed.

Connectivity is strong, too. There’s quadband GSM, Wi-Fi, 3.5G, and even PictBridge support for those who want it. The browser supports Flash, enabling video streaming from YouTube to pass the time, while GPS is supplied by the excellent Nokia Maps.

With a five megapixel camera, it takes good, clear shots, with autofocus and an LED flash for good measure. Those who care about music will be disappointed – the music player is functional, rather than great, but there is a 3.5mm headphone jack built in.

Voice calling offers excellent audio, as users would expect from Nokia, while the battery life is listed as 12.5 hours talk time, although mobile phone reviews have stated that it can last almost twice that long. At 2.35” the screen isn’t generous, and could have been more colourful, but then, this is aimed at the business crowd.

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Samsung G600 Review

January 20th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung Mobile Phones

Samsung really appears to have a thing for slider phones. The company keeps on producing them, and the G600 is the latest Samsung mobile phone to feature the slider design. But is there any real point to yet another model like this?

What the Samsung G600 has going for it is its camera. To all intents and purposes it’s almost like a digital camera with a phone attached. It might be only five megapixels, but the shots are crisp and clean, and it comes with autofocus built in, as well as 4x digital zoom and plenty of options for changing settings, including panorama mode for those stunning landscape shots and an assortment of macros. Photo editing software on the camera allows the user to make changes to the pictures taken.

That’s all great, and it turns the Samsung G600 into a very good camera phone, even if something like eight megapixels would have made it outstanding. Beyond that, though, there’s certainly nothing to make the G600 stand out from the crowd. There are no special features, no GPS, no Wi-Fi – there’s not even 3G, so uploading pictures directly from the phone would be a slow, tortuous process.

So yes, it takes good pictures, and you can edit them handily on the phone before loading them onto your computer. There are other phones that accomplish exactly the same thing and come with more features.  That makes it very hard to recommend this. Other than the camera, it’s just another in the slider pack.

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Plusnet Broadband Packages

January 18th, 2010 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Wireless Technology

Plusnet Broadband is one of the most used among the many mobile broadband providers in the UK. This is due to the difference in service provided by Plusnet broadband from many other broadband providers. Let us compare the benefits of Plusnet broadband to other broadband providers.

Plusnet Broadband offers speeds that can reach up to 20Mbps while most other providers offer speeds that only reach about 10Mbps. It has no monthly download limit, unlike many other broadband providers. Finally you only have to pay £11.99 a month, whereas with others you would normally pay £15.00, perhaps for a slower connection.

This broadband provider also has 10 years worth of experience in the business, and they also provide a 24/7 customer helpline if you ever run into a problem. Plusnet Broadband also offers two packages, namely the Plusnet Value Package and the Plusnet Premium Package. The main difference between these is the speed offered and the price, however, even if you do decide on the Plusnet Value package you will still be getting more than from most common broadband deals.

Perhaps the best thing that Plusnet Broadband has to offer is the referral programme that they are offering, they basically reduce the cost of your monthly fees for as long as your referred customer stays with them. They remove 25p from your monthly fee if you referred a person who uses Plusnet Value and 50p for Plusnet Premium. There is also no limit to the number of people that you can refer, so if you refer enough and they take out a deal you can get your broadband for very little cost.

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Recycling your old mobile phones

January 17th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Recycling, Mobile Technology

These days we are all more aware of our environment and the impact that our lifestyles have on it. Whether we try and limit the use of our cars or recycle drinks cans, we all know that each person doing something quite small can make a big difference. In the last couple of years a European law has come into force that states that all manufacturers of large electrical goods should provide some means of safe disposal of them once their useful life is over. This is not so with mobile phones.

Mobile phones contain some hazardous chemicals including Arsenic and Cadmium that can be hazardous to human and animal health if they get into our environment. While there may be only trace amounts of these materials in each phone, the sheer volume of discarded mobile phones means that their impact on the environment can be significant.

Mobile service providers often offer their customers upgrades to their handset, but are not held responsible for what happens to the old mobile phone. These unused mobiles are generally kept in drawers and boxes in people homes, neglected and gathering dust. Many of these phones are in good working order and can be reused.

This is where mobile phone recycling firms come in. They offer to pay cash for mobiles and recycle broken ones free of charge. This allows phone users to cash in on the value of their old phone instead of leaving it to gather dust in a drawer whilst also keeping the toxic materials out of landfill sites.

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Nokia E71 – is it just for business users?

January 14th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Nokia

Yes, it’s a Nokia, although the QWERTY keypad does make it look similar to a Blackberry. That small visual confusion aside, it’s a superb offering among Nokia mobile phones, and seems to have almost everything.  About all that’s missing is a 3.5mm headphone jack for good private listening.

What’s truly outstanding about this phone is the QWERTY keypad, praised in mobile phone reviews as one of the best on the market. The keys are surprisingly large, meaning that it’s easy, and definitely not tiring, to send lengthy messages – which is the point, of course.

The screen is a very good size, crisp and clear, and the case is very slim, but also metallic and sturdy – this is a phone that can handle a few knocks and keep on working.

There’s plenty under the bonnet, too, since the phone comes with Wi-Fi and HSDPA for fast, smooth browsing, as well as uploads and downloads, while the GPS is also good. Interestingly, and also annoyingly, the phone’s email client supports Microsoft Exchange, yet doesn’t have Exchange folder support, which seems an odd oversight.

Apart from that, the only real negative comes with the E71’s camera. It might be 3.2 megapixels, but it’s far from the best around, with horrible lag that often results in bad pictures.

If you can ignore that, and Exchange folders aren’t important to you – which probably means most people – then the Nokia E71 is a great phone, with one of the very best QWERTY keypads available today – even Blackberry could take a lesson from this.

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