The UK Mobile Phone Blog

LG officially announce the LG Viewty KU990

August 25, 2007 at 8:45 am by Jay | In Mobile News, Coming Soon Handsets

LG have officially announced that it will be launching the LG Viewty KU990 handset, ready to take on the iPhone. The KU990 has a touchscreen, similar to that found on the Prada phone by LG, incorporates a 5 megapixel camera with Schneider Kreuznach optics, is 3G and Mobile Broadband (HSDPA) compatible.

The KU990 (Which will be known as the U990 on the Three UK network) records video at an impressive 120 frames per second, which will allow for super slow motion video playback of recorded clips. Upload of recorded videos to YouTube has also been enabled, allowing users to upload video using a single-click connection.

The screen is a full 3” 400 x 240 pixel, 22k colour affair, the KU990 supports video calling, plays an array of digital music formats and also includes a full web browser. It is expected there will be around 170MB of internal user memory, with support for Micro SD cards.

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Mobiles more popular than landlines

August 23, 2007 at 12:48 pm by Jay | In Mobile News

A report from the UK communications watchdog, Ofcom, says that usage of mobile phones now accounts for more than one third of total time spent on phone calls, eating further into the time people spend using landlines.

In the last year mobile phone call minutes totaled 82 billion, from an overall total of 234 billion.

Now 9% of UK households rely solely on mobile phones, whereas only 7% now have just a landline.

Ofcom spokesman Peter Philips said:

“There are more households which are now mobile-only in terms of their phone. The first quarter of 2007 is the first time that this has happened”

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Apple picks European partners for iPhone?

August 23, 2007 at 11:26 am by Jay | In Mobile News

According to the Financial Times, Apple have made an agreement with three European networks for the upcoming release of the iPhone. The contractual agreement allows for a revenue share agreement between the networks and Apple, with the networks handing over 10% of data charges and call charges earned from the iPhone.

The report says the contract agreements are with O2 in the UK, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France.

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Sensuous 3G Nokia 6555

August 21, 2007 at 9:51 pm by Jay | In Mobile News, Coming Soon Handsets

Nokia today announced a new 3G mobile phone that pairs original design and quality workmanship with outstanding features. The Nokia 6555 meets the desire for aesthetic appeal with an external analog clock echoing the timeless elegance of high-end luxury. The Nokia 6555 is the first WCDMA phone with a smooth-back fold design with recessed hinge creating a seamless line when open. The phone’s gentle curve ensures a smooth and ergonomic user experience.

Adding to its attraction, the Nokia 6555 features a QVGA 16 million colour internal display - twice as many colours as the human eye can see - for a brilliant, crisp resolution on a large 240×320 screen, making it perfect for viewing photos and videos. The camera featuring a 6x zoom gives even greater versatility and full screen portrait viewfinder so you can be sure you get the right picture every time. The self-portrait function on the camera and video sharing ability ensures that special moments are easily shared with family and friends.

“Mobile-savvy consumers expect superior quality and design. We understood that need, and so created the the Nokia 6555. The Nokia 6555 is a sophisticated accessory delivering the outstanding features that you expect from Nokia,”

said Markku Suomi, Product Group Director, Mobile Phones, Nokia.

From the thin, narrow form factor with smooth lines to the 30MB user memory (with capacity for microSD expandable memory) and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, the Nokia 6555 sets the standard in its class.

Key features:
- Original smooth-back design
- Elegant external analog timepiece display
- Brilliant 16 million colour display
- Video sharing
- WCDMA and quadband GSM functionality

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Nokia set to launch social networking site - Mosh

August 16, 2007 at 10:09 pm by Jay | In Mobile News, Mobile phone applications

Nokia are getting into social networking with the creation of its own site, called MOSH.

Currently in Beta, MOSH has been developed to allow easy access from a PC and a mobile phone. Users can upload content to share with other MOSH subscribers.

MOSH users can browse other accounts and bookmark them on the phone for downloading content, such as music, videos and photos.

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Nokia N95 Voted European Media Phone 2007-2008

August 16, 2007 at 9:29 am by Jay | In Mobile Phones, Mobile News

Nokia N95 media phone

Nokia today announced the Nokia N95 multimedia computer has been voted the ‘European Media Phone of the Year 2007-2008′ by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), Europe’s leading association for consumer electronics.

EISA praised the Nokia N95 as containing “practically every feature one could imagine in a mobile device.” And said:

“It’s no mere mobile phone and no mere status symbol. Pick up a Nokia N95 and you hold in your hands a state-of-the-art communication tool”

The judging panel cited Nokia N95 features such as GPS, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and MPEG4 video capture of up to 30 fps. EISA also highlighted the device’s data access of up to 3.5 Mb/s, advanced web browser, Wi-Fi, microSD slot, and audio reproduction of multiple audio formats.

“The Nokia N95 has evidently raised the bar for mobile devices and we are thrilled to receive this accolade from consumer electronics magazines across Europe,” said Jonas Geust, head of Nokia Nseries Players Category, Multimedia, Nokia. “This award is an endorsement of the strategy behind Nokia Nseries - to bring to people’s hands high performance multimedia computers which make digital convergence a reality.”

EISA is a consumer technology awards association, and comprises of nearly 50 prominent Photo, Video, Audio, Home Theater and Mobile Electronics magazines from 18 European countries.

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Nokia admit battery problems

August 14, 2007 at 9:43 pm by Jay | In Mobile News, Mobile phone accessories

Nokia have sent out a press release, admitting that up to 46 million BL-5C batteries could be faulty. The batteries, used in a wide variety of Nokia handsets, are liable to overheating when charged. The fault lies within a batch of batteries manufactured by Matsushita Battery Industrial, between December 2005 and November 2006.

The Nokia handsets which use the BL-5C battery are:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

If you own one of the above handsets and are concerned if your battery is faulty, click here and enter your battery code. If your serial number is listed among the batch of potentially faulty batteries, Nokia will send you a replacement free of charge.

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Sony Ericsson announce the K770i

August 14, 2007 at 4:11 pm by Jay | In Mobile News, Coming Soon Handsets

Sony Ericsson K770i Today Sony Ericsson announced the latest addition to their Cybershot™ range, the K770i.

The form factor is a familiar candy bar design, boasting a 1.9” 262k colour QVGA screen, Stereo Bluetooth and FM radio. The K770i is a slim phone, just 14.5mm thick and weighing in at just 95g.

The camera itself is a tried and tested quality product, being the same found on the K800i and K810i, Cybershot™ 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus. To activate the camera just slide open the back camera lens. When the camera is activated illuminated icons show on the keypad, indicating shortcuts to the most often used features in the camera. These shortcuts are available in most Sony Ericsson camera phones but are rarely used, simply because people don’t know they are there.

The Sony Ericsson K770i integrates with a wide selection of blog services. Once you’ve taken a picture or captured a video, you can upload it to your favourite online web service or blog. The K770i is a 3G handset, and also works on Tri Band GSM frequencies.

As well as the image capture features, the K770i also sports a web browser, support for RSS feeds, and has a built in email client.

The K770i is expected to be available during Q4 2007

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Camera phones reveal hidden art

August 11, 2007 at 9:28 am by Jay | In Mobile News, Just for fun

Scottish scientists have discovered a way to put digital art on city monuments that is revealed when a picture is taken via camera phone.

The technology has been used in Edinburgh, to create a city guide, allowing people to find virtual artworks using their mobile phone.

“It’s about using a camera phone as a magic wand” said Dr Mark Wright of the Division of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.

The Spellbinder project uses a database of all places that participants have added data to. People query it by taking a snap of a location with their phone then use multimedia messaging to send the picture to Spellbinder. Powerful image-matching algorithms are used to analyse the image that can deal with pictures of the same place being taken under different light conditions or from different angles.

Once Spellbinder has worked out the location of an image it consults the database and sends back an image with the extra ‘hidden art’ added to it.

Virtual Games
Previous projects to augment the real world with digital content used barcodes on objects or a software download that participants installed on their phones.

But barcodes required someone to go out to label everything, Dr Wright said, and software can be hard to maintain and tweak for every possible handset that could use it.

The first use of the system has been in an Invisible Art project set in Edinburgh. This, said Dr Wright, encouraged people to explore the city and take snaps of landmarks to see whether others had added anything to them.

A game has also been developed using the system in which players wear a large individual image on their body and are given a “base” or location to protect.

Points are given for shooting snaps of the images on rival players’ clothes or of their base.

Although Spellbinder has been used to spot locations it could, said Dr Wright, be used to match almost anything.

“With Spellbinder, the real world becomes a computational resource” he said.

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The Search for the Cameraphone Photographer of the Year

August 9, 2007 at 9:33 pm by Jay | In Mobile News

Sony Ericsson has launched a competition to find the Cameraphone Photographer of the year. The competition, run in conjunction with The Times newspaper, Heat and FHM magazines aims to find the best cameraphone shots in three different categories: News & Sports, Fashion and Lifestyle.

Visiting the Sony Ericsson Search website, users can upload their photos to be viewed online.

Sony Ericsson will be offering monthly prizes to the best images in each category, with a picture shoot out to determine the overall winner. The best entries will be presented at a show in London, and national winners will compete in a global competition, World View.

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