Exploring the Samsung Omnia 7

September 2nd, 2011 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung Mobile Phones, Touchscreen, Windows Mobile

The first among the Samsung mobile phones running Windows 7, the Samsung Omnia 7 boasts a 5mp led flash camera, Wi-Fi, USB port, A2DP supported Bluetooth (v2.1), 8GB of internal memory, an audio player that supports MP3, AAC and MIDI files along with 4 others.  There is also a WMV, MP4, H2.264 AND H.263 video player, FM radio and 3.5mm headphone jack for the listening pleasure of owners with various headphones.  The phone also has a rather sturdy body.

Some Pluses

The impressive Amoled 4 inch touchscreen delivers great displays and is suitably responsive to touch which makes viewing practically everything as well as making selection, zooming or switching apps and pages a pain free experience.  The keypad (QWERTY) is designed to make messaging fast and easy.

The phone is easy to customize, integration of social sites and email accounts is a breeze, and in general all the important aspects of windows 7 works well on it.  The camera delivers the results one would expect from a high end phone, the mechanical shutter makes snapping photos easy and users can camera to camcorder with no effort.

Most Obvious Issues

On the downside, music lovers and avid camera users may find the absence of a memory card slot rather disappointing especially with only 8GB of internal memory to use.   Additionally, the setup to sync playlists stored on other sources can take time since Zune has to be downloaded.  People who are keen on details will notice that there are a number of striking similarities to other brands of windows 7 phones. Aside from these, the phone really does deliver.

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The Google Nexus S Mobile Phone

August 29th, 2011 | Google Android, Mobile Phone Reviews, Samsung Mobile Phones

The Google Nexus S is based on the Samsung Galaxy S but has a few modifications. It has Android 2.3 and has a wealth of apps available. Its specifications are high with a 1GHz processor and 16GB of memory to help run all the best apps.

Samsung makes the phone, leading some critics to comment that it is just another part of the range of Samsung mobile phones. It has a reasonable camera with 5 megapixels and has the capacity to record 720p HD video. The download speed is very fast, with a top speed of around 7.2 Mbps. The camera also has a flash, which was missing from the Galaxy S. The keyboard has also been improved and comes with multi-touch support. The phone comes with the latest Near Field Communication, or NFC, support. This enables it to read data from any other nearby devices with a NFC chip.

The speed of this phone makes it capable of multi-tasking, playing back videos effortlessly, displaying complex websites and playing the latest games. The battery life is very good for a smartphone due to the 1500mAh lithium battery. The display screen is provided by the Super AMOLED technology, which has excellent clarity and brightness. The resolution is 480 by 800 pixels and the screen size is nearly 30% larger than an iPhone. 

The build is not as good as the iPhone 3 and there is also no microSD card slot. However with 16GB built-in this is probably not going to be an issue for the vast majority of people. If you can find any Google Nexus S deals then you will not be disappointed.

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Sony Ericsson Arc Deals With Amazing Free Gifts

August 23rd, 2011 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Technology, Sony Ericsson, Touchscreen

The Sony Ericsson Arc packs functionality and fun into a very good looking package.  The device is userfriendly, and thus suitable for both tech savvy and new smart phone users.  There are some great deals on the Sony Ericsson Arc with and without free gifts, some of which require payment (whether in part or full) for the phone.

O2: get 1200 any network and anytime minutes unlimited text, 500 MB along with free phone for £47.  As a gift, persons will receive a Toshiba NB20 Black.

Orange: For £30 get 600 minutes and unlimited texting.  For this particular deal the phone costs £12, customers will also get a Samsung HD Pocket Camcorder (Full).  There is no data package.

3 Mobile: £30 monthly allows users 900 minutes along with 5000 text messages and 1GB of data. Free gifts include an iPod shuffle and a cash back value of £25.

Talk Mobile: with just £30 a month receive 750 anytime/any network minutes, 1500 text and a 1GB data bundle. Also get a Jawbone Prime Bluetooth headset for free.

Vodafone:  this network is charging £229.99 for the phone with a £25 monthly package that offers 100 minutes, 500 texts, 500MB of data. Get a free Samsung N150 Netbook as an incentive.

T-Mobile: users will get 600 minutes, unlimited text and a free gift of a N150 Blue Netbook for £25.53.  The phone is charged at £148.

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LG Optimus One – is it any good?

August 20th, 2011 | Google Android, LG, Mobile Phone Reviews, Touchscreen

LG has always been known as the dark horse of touchscreen phones.  For the past few years it has been producing reliable smartphones, although never really gained any recognition.  Despite its efforts, LG is yet to produce a highly successful smartphone but it hopes that its latest venture, the LG Optimus One will change that.

Rather than attempting to create the world’s best smartphone, LG has decided to perfect the basics with its new, no-frills model.   The screen, for example, is of average size, measuring 3.2 inches, and its capacitive display can be found on nearly every other smartphone.  So what makes this phone different?

Simply put, it is simple.  Whether the user is an Android addict or a smartphone newcomer, they are bound to easily get to grips with the effortlessly user-friendly layout of the various screens.  The phone even comes with the option of an old-style numeric keyboard for technophobes and its predictive text means that inputting text can be done quickly and efficiently.

However, the phone does come with some flaws.  For example, LG’s custom keyboard is unnecessarily small, which can make texting annoyingly difficult.  Furthermore, the rear-facing camera only has a 3-megapixel display and the inbuilt memory is a meagre 170MB (although the MicroSD™ slot means the phone can accept up to 32GB of external storage).  Finally, the phone does not feel expensive. The plastic casing cannot compare to higher-specification models, although for a simple, budget smartphone the LG Optimus One is a success.

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Smart Phones

August 18th, 2011 | Mobile Technology

In recent years, a massive shift has occurred in the mobile phone market. Not content with having a mobile phone which just sends and receives calls, texts and emails, users have demanded that their mobile phones now act as a portable entertainment centre, requiring music, video playback, web browsing, digital cameras, games and other software be included in their handset. Modern mobile phones which contain all of these features are commonly referred to as ‘Smart Phones’.

A typical smart phone on the market today may be expensive if bought SIM free, costing anywhere between £150 and £500, however it provides users with almost everything they need in one place. They allow users to browse the internet, update social networking sites, take HD videos and pictures, play games, listen to music and watch videos both on the internet and stored on their memory. They also allow business users to securely send emails, view and edit important documents, get directions to their next meeting and operate as a Sat Nav. Some smart phones such as the Motorola Atrix are even blurring the line between phone and computer so much they can power laptop accessories and work as a small personal computer.

Smart phones are incredibly popular, with studies showing that by March 2011 almost 25% of mobile phone users in the UK owned a smart phone, with over 30% of users aged 24-35 owning one.

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Android Sat Nav Apps – which one is best?

August 14th, 2011 | Google Android

The list of Android Sat Nav apps is almost endless.  Dozens exist, all promising to get the consumer from A to B.  Some apps (like Google Maps Navigation and AndNav) are free, while others offer their services for a price.  However, which is the best?

Over recent years, Google has continually innovated navigation and maps, more recently with their Street View feature.  Keen to stay at the pinnacle of navigational applications, Google has recently introduced Google Maps Navigation; a feature-filled app which constantly evolves in order to try and dominate the market.  In addition, best of all, it’s free.  After a successful US trial, Google has introduced its Street View feature to its navigation app in the UK, meaning consumers can literally see the street they are driving down on their phone.  So, how do others compete in this near-monopolised field?

Paid-for sat nav apps, such as CoPilot Live and Wisepilot have decided to opt for ‘premium’ features and their interface is admittedly classier than AndNav’s, for example.  Such paid-for apps were available long before Google entered the mix and previously consumers had no choice but to pay for their directional navigation.  Google Maps Navigation relies heavily on an internet connection while using the sat nav and users often become stuck when this is unavailable.  However, CoPilot, Wisepilot and NDrive (all paid-for apps) store maps on the SD card of a smartphone so this problem never arises.  It is features like this that ensure that those willing to pay will receive superior quality.

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All About O2 Broadband

August 12th, 2011 | Broadband, Mobile Broadband

About O2

O2 broadband aims to bring fast downloads to businesses, as well as home users, at competitive prices.  The packages offered provide a wide selection of choices, including mobile broadband and laptops.

Packages

Entry-level packages are represented by The Basics, which offers a download speed of up to 20Mb and a monthly download limit of 20GB.  This would allow you to download approximately 20,000 emails, 10,000 photographs or 5,000 songs.  The maximum upload speed offered is up to 1.3Mb.  The Basics comes with a standard router, and costs £8.17 a month if you are on O2, and £13.28 a month, plus a £25.53 connection fee if you are not on O2.

The mid-range is catered for by The All Rounder.  This has a download speed of up to 20Mb and unlimited downloads with a fair usage policy.  The maximum upload speed is up to 1.3Mb through a double strength wireless router with a longer range.  The cost of this package is £12.25 a month if you are on O2, £17.36 a month if not, and the connection fee.

Top-of-the-range is The Works, which has a download speed of up to 20Mb, unlimited downloads with a fair usage policy, and a maximum upload speed of up to 2.5Mb, which is useful for gaming online.  The double strength wireless router is also provided.  The cost is £20.42 a month for O2 customers, and £25.53 a month for others who will also have to pay the connection fee.

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Palm Pre 2 Review – how does it compare?

August 7th, 2011 | Mobile Phone Reviews, Palm

When the original Palm Pre was launched, there were high hopes it would be the phone to rival the dominance of Apple’s iPhone.  However, sales of the phone were relatively disappointing and so Palm has decided to launch the Palm Pre 2 in the hope of a change of fortunes.

The phone comes armed with a 5-megapixel camera, although with many smartphones now boasting at least 8 megapixels the Palm Pre 2 finds itself lacking.  The screen is relatively small on the Palm Pre 2, measuring just 3.1 inches, although the 16-million colour capacitive display means that resolution quality is definitely not an issue.

For those who are not fond of touchscreen keyboards found on many smartphones today, the Palm Pre 2 has a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.  While this does obviously add to the thickness of the phone, typing is considerably easier than on some models.  Out of the box, the phone comes with 16GB of internal memory, although a lack of a MicroSD™ slot means that this memory is not expandable.  For the Pre 2, Palm has decided to fit the phone with a 1Ghz processor, aligning the speed of the phone with high-end models such as the Samsung Ga axy S and the HTC Desire HD.

There is no doubting that the Palm Pre 2 is aesthetically different to most smartphones, ditching the angular look for a curvaceous design.  This, however, adds to the size of the device and makes the small screen look even smaller.

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HTC Desire S or Sony Ericsson Arc?

August 5th, 2011 | Google Android, HTC, Mobile Phone Reviews, Sony Ericsson

There is no denying two of the best smartphones around are the HTC Desire S and the Sony Ericsson Arc.  The HTC Desire S is the follow-up to the phenomenally successful HTC Desire, with Sony Ericsson’s latest offering resembling its Xperia X10 model.  But which of the two is better?

Looking at hardware, both phones possess quite standard 1GHz processors, with the HTC Desire S edging out the Sony Ericsson Arc in terms of RAM (the Desire S boasting 768MB as opposed to the Arc’s 512MB).  When looking at internal memory, the Sony Ericsson Arc, however, disappoints. With just 320MB of storage available, HTC’s offering wins with 1.1GB.  Granted, the Arc comes with an 8GB MicroSD™ card, with the option of expanding up to 32GB, but with many apps not supporting SD movement, the Arc’s tiny memory capacity could be a problem.

With regards to picture quality, the Sony Ericsson Arc clearly wins, boasting a crystal clear 8.1-megapixel camera, while the Desire S packs a punch of just 5 megapixels.  Furthermore, with Sony keen to expose its BRAVIA TV technology, HDMI connectivity is supported, with the user being able to view their HD recordings through their TV.

The battery size of the two phones is roughly the same (the HTC comes with 1450mAh battery and the Sony Ericsson with 1500mAh) although both of these batteries are the standard for smartphones of today, so consumption should not be an issue.

Both phones are nearly identical in regards to cost, quality and style, although the Arc feels more like a high-end smartphone and its picture quality is far superior.

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What is a Blackberry Smartphone?

August 3rd, 2011 | Blackberry, Mobile Phone Reviews

Blackberry mobile phones are a brand of handsets which first gained prominence in the market by being specially optimised to deal with emails along with standard phone calls and texts. This ability to sync with leading email server software made them incredibly popular amongst business users, and following this Blackberry mobile phones have grown to become one of the most widely used handset brands in the industry. Today, Blackberry phones are just as widely owned by everyday users as business users thanks to a wide range of features such as leading camera technology, an instant messenger service and secure email.

One of the defining features which answers the question of ‘What is a Blackberry phone?’ is the handset’s QWERTY hardware keyboard. While many mobile phone manufacturers have either reverted to using software keyboards or a converted number pad as a keyboard in order to accommodate a larger screen, Blackberry phones are most easily recognisable by their full hardware keyboard. This feature remains remarkably popular with Blackberry’s user base and is a key feature of any Blackberry phone.

One of the features which have made the Blackberry popular amongst non-business users is the Blackberry Messenger service, which provides secure instant messaging chat between Blackberry users. This works by having each Blackberry handset assigned a unique 8 digit PIN. Blackberry users can then add their friends, co-workers and families PINs to their Blackberry Messenger and securely chat to them using instant messaging.

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