Sony Ericsson Aino Review

February 23rd, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Sony Ericsson, Touchscreen

Sony Ericsson mobiles are always popular as they generally tick all of the boxes and leave the users extremely happy.  The mobile phone news has been buzzing with details of how good the Sony Ericsson Aino is, and the users that have also had their say are in agreement. 

This is one stylish looking piece of kit, featuring a touch screen with a hidden keyboard that slides out from the bottom; a standard phone keypad not the QWERTY keyboard that others have used.  However that said this doesn’t impact greatly in any way and the good news is there is some excellent mobile phone deals to be had with this phone so there is sure to be something that appeals to you.  Remember that you will get the cheapest offers by taking out a contract mobile phone deal; the price will vary depending on for how long you fix the contract term.

Choosing Sony Ericsson mobile phones leaves you confident in the knowledge that you are getting a mobile phone of quality.  These phones are known for their reliability and ability to withstand the knocks of daily life.  The Aino is no different and is jam packed with a myriad of features that are sure to appeal to many potential users. There is one key feature that is sure to appeal to the younger generation, the ability to remote into your Playstation 3 – which is a sensational feature if you have one of these games machines.

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Choosing a Broadband Provider

February 19th, 2010 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband, Wireless Technology

With a multitude of broadband providers to choose from, all of them offering great broadband deals, it’s important to compare the packages on offer before choosing the one that’s best for you. Broadband comparison sites abound on the Internet. If it’s mobile broadband you’re after, again there are many providers out there and a careful mobile broadband comparison can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Orange home broadband has a range of great deals from the starter pack to an all-inclusive package offering savings on international phone calls. Sky broadband and Virgin Media broadband will bundle your cable TV and telephone in with your broadband connection. With broadband providers like TalkTalk broadband, Be broadband, Plusnet broadband and even supermarket names like Tesco broadband wading into the marketplace, the difficulty lies in choosing. This is where the broadband comparison websites such as Thinkbroadband come in to their own. With such intense competition, and such great broadband deals out there, it’s important to take a little time to decide which broadband providers you should be looking at.

A good starting point would be to first split the broadband providers into those specialising in domestic or business use. Orange home broadband offers several broadband deals for the home, whilst Business broadband from BT and UK broadband focus more on the varied requirements of a business environment, with the ability to set up for example multiple virtual networks – not usually a requirement in the home, even for teenagers.

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Nokia N86 Review

February 18th, 2010 | Camera Phones, Mobile Phone Reviews, Nokia

The Nokia N86 is touted as the phone for the photographer on the move. Nokia has always included a good quality camera in its phones and this is its first 8-megapixel version. It features a wide angle Carl Zeiss lens and has a dual LED flash with software that makes downloading images onto Flickr easy.

This slide top phone is packed with features and applications such as GPS, Nokia maps, 8GB memory, Wi-Fi and HSDPA, although its keypad is not the most attractive on the market, or the easiest to use. It is similar in many ways to the earlier N85 but slightly heavier with improved memory and camera.

The N86 is a fast, responsive mobile phone with a return to the universal 3.5mm jack point. The 2.5 inch screen is made more visible with the Advanced Matrix OLED technology. Design wise it is a sturdy enough phone available in grey or black metallic finish and comfortably fits into your hand, pocket or bag.

Slightly disappointing is its inability to connect to the popular Twitter and Facebook sites to download images, and the lack of a dedicated camera-operating button for taking pictures, lets the phone down a little.

The main selling point of this model is its photographic features. The results are comparable to many mid-range dedicated digital cameras and its video facility supports MPEG4, 3GP video capture and has a front facing lens for conference calling. There is also a decent multimedia system, which includes FM Radio with RDS and an integrated hands-free speaker.

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Blackberry Bold 9700 Smartphone

February 15th, 2010 | Blackberry, Mobile Phone Reviews

Blackberry mobile phones have always been the choice of business people and celebrities. The  Blackberry Bold 9700 shows that this is a serious and compact mobile phone. It is a slim, sleek and elegant mobile but it also has weight. Many criticisms of today’s power hungry smart phones centre on their battery life, but this accusation cannot be levelled at the Bold 9700.

Known for their business use and communications applications, Blackberry mobile phones are not manufactured initially as media players, but this one has a passable system. Although the screen is small, this is compensated for by the addition of high definition imagery, which is crisp and clear, though the sound system is nothing out of the ordinary and includes a standard 3.5mm jack point.

Where most other producers seem to have rushed in with swipe screen technology, RIM has kept faith with the keyboard. It has remained the main form of access to the Bold 9700’s applications and they have not attempted to replace the useful keypad facility. The camera that is included, while not capable of professional quality pictures is good enough for documenting your day-to-day activities and downloaded results are quite acceptable.

Those unfamiliar with Blackberry’s challenging menu selection function will have a bit of trouble getting started, but once confident with the system they should find it an easy, if somewhat complicated set up to navigate.

The Bold 9700 performs well as a multipurpose, compact mobile phone, and has sufficiently good business and communication programmes, plus a more that adequate image system.

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Getting some money for your old mobile

February 11th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Recycling, Mobile Technology

In these technology driven times we have come to take for granted all the electronic gizmos and gadgets available without really thinking about what happens to them when we upgrade to the next model. All the advanced technology devices we surround ourselves with do not last forever, and what happens to it when we are finished with it?

The components in most modern electronics can contain some pretty nasty chemicals and if they’re not disposed of properly these chemicals can damage the environment, and our health. Televisions and other large electronic items must, by European law, be dealt with by the manufacturers, but this law does not cover smaller items such as mobile phones.

Thankfully there are a number of easy to use services that will recycle, re-use or dispose of old mobile phones for us. They’ll even pay cash for mobiles that can be reused whilst recycling those that are truly dead. Reused phones will often be sent on to be resold in the developing world where mobile phones are becoming an essential way for people to keep in touch.

With maybe 50 million unwanted and unused phones lying around in drawers and boxes across the UK, the materials locked up in them can either be recycled into the next generation of phones or left to pollute our environment. A better option is to simply visit one of several websites, like Fonebank, Mobile Phone Exchange, or Mazuma, and find out if your old mobile can be turned into cash.

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Motorola Dext with QWERTY keyboard

February 10th, 2010 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Motorola, Touchscreen

A Motorola Dext review reveals that the company have combined android technology with a QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen and a variety of downloadable additions. The second android on the market after T-Mobiles G1, the Dext is a definite improvement on the technology and probably the best phone from the Motorola workshop for quite a while.

The Motoblur operating system is a bonus, as it fully integrates and personalises all your applications and enables you to network socially with all your friends while on the move. It displays all your Tweets, Facebook updates and MySpace details automatically. The Motoblur system also enables you to track a lost phone on GPS and if need be wipe the phone remotely, ensuring data does not fall into unwanted hands.

For those who prefer the safety of a real keyboard the Dext is a definite solution. It’s a little small but that’s to be expected, the backlighting could be brighter and some of the icons are much too small. Its camera doesn’t have a flash facility and the battery life is not exceptional, plus it is quite heavy to carry around with you.

The Motorola Dext comes with the expected services, camera, video and multimedia and a standard 3.5mm jack point. Its specifications are fairly standard and there is nothing really outstanding here.

A good phone for the social networkers out there, with excellent features available in that department.  Its physical keyboard is also a sound feature but it is let down by its looks and the audio quality is a little tinny. The touchscreen is very responsive and there is a good range of downloadable Android applications.

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LG Arena KM900 Review

February 8th, 2010 | LG, Mobile Phone Reviews

Every smartphone is going to be measured against the iPhone. For people who compare mobile phones, it’s the smartphone gold standard. The LG Arena KM900 might not quite be an iPhone, but it’s certainly a very good offering, and packed with features.

When it comes to sound, not only is there Dolby mobile surround sound on this handset (which is great when watching movies), but also a 3.5mm headphone jack for private listening on a user’s headphones of choice.

The camera has five megapixels, and for once it’s one that works pretty well even in low light, even if it doesn’t do all the movie bells and whistles.

The mobile phone’s styling is good; it fits in the hand well, and the rounded corners are appealing – it’s as good to look at as it is to use.

What else is good? The GPS, which utilises Google Maps, is excellent, and easy to use, and although a three inch display might seem a little small, it’s very clear and sharp for video.

However, the interface could be better. It’s awkward, and certainly not intuitive. Rather than up and down, the screens only move from side to side, which can be confusing to users, as will the lock, which requires a user to briefly hit the power button to reactivate the handset from idle.

For those who can acclimatise themselves to the vagaries of the touchscreen, the Arena KM900 offers a good, solid smartphone experience. But it’s not an iPhone – and for many that will be the big drawback.

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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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