The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Bluetooth 4.0 expected by Christmas 2010 March 11, 2010 at 9:50 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phones, Wireless Products And Services The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) have announced that the new low-powered Bluetooth 4.0 standard will start to be implemented before the end of the year, with devices likely to be available in time for Christmas. Th current version seen in many smartphones and wireless headsets is 2.1, however v4.0 is already on the horizon and will bring benefits such as a low power mode which will help decrease battery drain Low Power demands can now be implemented in a whole range of new devices; the current Bluetooth standard requires AAA battery power or more, where as the up coming v4.0 will easily run off a watch battery. Version 4.0 also builds upon the increased data capabilities of build 3.0, by allowing equipped devices to connect to Wi-Fi networks at speeds up to 25Mbits per second. Although we will be seeing a massive improvement in power consumption, v4.0 Bluetooth will still use roughly the same amount as v3.0 when data is streamed continuously. Check back for updates on when Bluetooth version 4 is likely to be making an appearance and what handsets will be sporting this refreshed version. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb No comments yet - click to add a comment Google launches Gesture Search for Android 2.0 phones and above March 8, 2010 at 9:45 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Applications, Mobile Phones Google have officially announced the launch of Gesture Search, which is a new way of searching your Android phone’s content by simply writing letters on the screen with your finger. Below is an explanation from Google themselves. “Say you want to call your friend Anne. Just open Gesture Search and draw letter “A”, and Gesture Search returns a list of items that have words starting with “A”. If your handwriting isn’t all that neat, that’s okay. If the “A” you draw looks a bit like an “H”, as seen in the bottom left corner of the screenshot, “H” results will be brought up as well. If needed, you can also erase a query by crossing it horizontally: left to right erases the entire query, and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query. Now you can either scroll down the list to find Anne or write more letters to refine the search.” Sounds like a pretty good and simple tool to use, and definitely a lot more convenient to use in public rather than voice search. If you fancy trying out the Gesture Search for yourself, search for it in the Android Market; it will only appear and be available to download for handsets running on Android 2.0 or higher. If recent rumours are correct, all Android phones will be upgrading to 2.1 meaning all Android users will be able to take advantage of the new Gesture Search tool. Keep an eye on the blog for new Android mobile phone releases which will be sporting Gesture Search. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb No comments yet - click to add a comment Opera Mini for the iPhone announced! February 25, 2010 at 9:16 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Applications The Opera Mini browser for mobile platforms has been released for a majority of the top mobile platforms including Symbian and Windows Mobile, however there seems to be one platform which has been missing out on the action…the iPhone. This won’t be the case for long though, as it was announced at the MWC 2010 that Opera Mini have a new version available for the iPhone. This doesn’t mean that Apple will accept this package, though. After all, the iPhone already has it’s very own Safari browser so why would they want to change to Opera Mini? The main difference that makes Opera Mini stand out is the speed. This is a very fast browser. In fact, it’s 5 times faster than Safari which is already employed on the iPhone. If you wonder how Opera can manage this, it’s because Opera processes all web page information within its own server. Web pages are compressed by up to 90% of their original size, meaning users can benefit from both time and money savings when browsing the web. You can also synchronize your bookmarks and Speed Dial between mobile phones or a computer. But the question is, will Apple allow Opera to come and take over their browser? Watch this space. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb 2 Comments - click to add another comment HTC to deliver portfolio of Microsoft Windows Phone ‘7 series’ phones February 22, 2010 at 11:22 am by Hannah \| In Coming Soon Handsets, Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Applications, Mobile Phones HTC have announced that they will bring Microsoft’s next generation of Windows phones – ‘Windows Phone 7 Series’ to the market later this year. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2010, the new software for ‘7 Series’ offers a fresh approach to smart phones, by bringing together applications and content from the web to give the user a very personal and relevant experience. With this news, HTC builds on its Windows Phone leadership and extends its commitment to offering customers the most innovative mobile phone experiences available. “Windows Phone 7 Series is a significant milestone for Microsoft, the industry and ultimately people looking to do more on their phones. HTC is working closely with Microsoft to bring the unique HTC experience that customers love,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC Corporation. “Microsoft has clearly listened to feedback from people and brought a new, fresh approach to the smartphone experience that is beautiful, powerful and compelling.” For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together the Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience to the mobile phone, exclusively on 7 Series phones. The design for Windows Phones 7 Series concentrates on every aspect, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start. Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query. “People are moving faster than ever, juggling more priorities and turning to technology to manage it all. Windows Phone 7 Series simplifies common tasks by bringing together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view to make life easier,” said Andy Lees, senior vice president of Mobile Communication Business at Microsoft. “We are pleased to work closely with HTC, a global leader in mobile phone technology and design, to bring new Windows phones to customers around the world.” Keep an eye on the blog for further information on 7 Series handsets and release dates. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb No comments yet - click to add a comment Sony Ericsson Pocket TV set to return to our screens in April! February 18, 2010 at 4:07 pm by Dan \| In Just For Fun, Mobile Content/Services Sony Ericsson have today announced a triumphant return for their popular Pocket TV online entertainment show, with a second series debuting in April. For those who missed the shows first outing, Sony Ericsson’s Pocket TV is a music-based entertainment show, hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Matt Edmondson, featuring interviews with today’s movers and shakers in the music industry. The twist being that the artists are interviewed in a unique style, completely out of their comfort zone making for some thoroughly entertaining encounters (clay pigeon shooting with Lethal Bizzle anyone?). Speaking about the second series, Edmondson commented “For years Scholars have predicted the second coming - they just didn’t know it was going to be this good. I can’t wait for series 2 of Sony Ericsson’s Pocket TV to start- last year I quizzed in my pants, invaded the faces of celebrities and gave psychiatric advice to Marilyn Manson. That was just the start. It’s going to be AMAZING.” With the show set to be shot in HD, Pocket TV will also garner yet more attention for the upcoming Sony Ericsson Vivaz which is set to launch early next month. Sporting a vivid touchscreen display, 8.1 Megapixel camera and Wi-Fi, the Vivaz also captures video in glorious HD and offers the ability to upload to YouTube straight from the phone. Sony Ericsson are hoping that the launch of the Vivaz and the return of Pocket TV will spark an HD video sharing revolution. Richard Dormon, Senior marketing manager for Sony Ericsson UK and Ireland confirmed as much saying “Pocket TV, with its HD filmed content, will help bring to life the capabilities of the new Sony Ericsson Vivaz - the world’s smallest HD video phone.” Made for mobile in bite sized chunks and hosted on YouTube in full, Pocket TV returns to our screens on the 13th of April and will be shown via four weekly segments. We’ll be posting the videos right here on the Mobiles Blog so, if you’re interested in music, entertainment, or just want to see Matt ask the questions no one else dares, be sure to keep your eyes on the blog come April. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb 1 Comment - click to add another comment Samsung Wave debuts Bada OS and Super-AMOLED display! February 16, 2010 at 9:53 am by Dan \| In Coming Soon Handsets, MWC, Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phones, New Mobile Phones When we first heard that Samsung were developing their own operating system, we found it a little hard to get excited. With so many great smartphone platforms already on the market, it looked hard to see how Samsung could find room for one more with their new Bada OS. What they needed was a killer device to launch the OS and get consumers and developers to set sail for Bada (Bada being Korean for Ocean). Well, Samsung have just announced that killer device. Say hello to the Samsung Wave. Officially confirmed as the first phone to run Bada, the Wave is awash with headline grabbing specs, so much so that the fledgling operating system gets pushed to the background. First up; the touchscreen display. Having pioneered AMOLED technology, Samsung have upped their game once again with a new Super-AMOLED display using On-Cell technology. In techy terms, the display is thinner than conventional AMOLED screens and positions the LED’s closer to the surface. The result? The brightest, sharpest, most vivid display you’ve ever seen on a mobile phone. You really can’t throw enough superlatives at it. Comparing the Wave to current-gen phones is like comparing Blu-ray to VHS, which by the way, can actually be done using the Wave thanks to the phone’s ability to record and decode in full 720p quality and provide audio support in 5.1 surround sound format. Not just a feast for the eyes, the Wave’s touchscreen promises to be just as enjoyable to use. Employing capacitive technology for a more responsive user experience and the ability to multi-touch, the touchscreen is backed up by a 1GHz processor which ensures the phone is able to keep up with your commands. Flicking between menus and different pages of the home screen is iPhone slick and really leaves a positive impression of the potential of Bada. The Wave is also touting Samsung’s mDNIe technology, which stands for mobile Digital Natural Image engine, a technology which is usually reserved for it’s LCD and LED televisions; which means that the Wave is likely to be one of, if not the best Multimedia phones out there. Couple this with the multi-codec support for DivX, XviD, MP3 and WMV, and the Wave really does start to put a tick in every box thrown at it. You’d think that with all of the pioneering technology and software already mentioned, that the list would be finished, but you’d be wrong. The wave is also set to be the first ever phone to debut with Bluetooth v3.0; a technology which will theoretically allow data transfer at speeds of up to 24 Mbits/s. There’s also the inclusion of 802.11n Wi-Fi, which admittedly is far from pioneering, but there are very few mobile phones which can boast a similarly spec’d Wi-Fi. And with a-GPS, accelerometer, proximity sensor, GeoMagnetic sensor, up to 8GB storage, MicroSD expansion and a 5.0 megapixel camera with Autofocus, LED flash and face/blink detection to boot, the Wave is hotting up to be one of our most highly anticipated and eagerly awaited phones of the year. Keep and eye on the blog for updates from MWC regarding release dates and pricing and click here to sign up for updates for the Samsung Wave. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb 1 Comment - click to add another comment Vodafone 360 Application store reaches 7,000 Apps February 11, 2010 at 9:20 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Applications Since the launch back in November, the Vodafone 360 Application store has already reached 7,000 Apps. Over these last few months, Vodafone have been dedicated to offering incentives to developers to produce applications for Vodafone 360, as well as being dedicated to make the software as open and easy as possible to work with. Just recently there is a new incentive going for developers. Anyone who registers for the Vodafone 360 Developers conference on the 15th February, which is being hosted in Barcelona, will also get a free four-day pass to the Mobile World Congress, which takes place at the same time and place. As well as this, there is also a £100,000 price up for grabs for the winner of its App Store Contest which will take place at the developers’ conference. The complete Vodafone 360 suite aims to bring all of your sources of communication together: phone, email, chat and social networking can all be accessed from the same place. You can always keep up to date with what your friends are up to, see their status updates, share your photos and favourite places – from your phone, PC or Mac. The Vodafone 360 application store just supplements this process, by providing you with all the latest applications to make using your phone even more enjoyable, easy and personalised. As well as the 7,000 applications available, Vodafone also announced that they have a staggering 20,000 handsets available on their network that are compatible to use the Vodafone 360 suite. If you like the sounds of Vodafone 360, then why not check out some of the great deals on our handsets which support this internet service such as the Vodafone 360 H1 which benefits from a 3.2inch touchscreen display and a 5.0megapixel camera, or the coming soon Vodafone 360 M1 which brings built in HSDPA, GPS and a full web browser. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb No comments yet - click to add a comment iPhone gets Skype calling for 3G networks February 10, 2010 at 9:36 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile Networks, Mobile Phone Applications Skype is about to become ‘totally mobile’ for iPhone users. Currently, Skype users can only make Skype to Skype calls and Skype out-calls via Wi-Fi only, but soon it will be possible to do this over a 3G network,too. A member of Skype’s iPhone Team, David Ponsford, has confirmed that this new service will be coming soon. The decision has come about as Apple have changed the terms of use for developers, such as Skype. Work has been carried out by Skype on the new application to make this work. The Skype iPhone team have added in a call quality indicator, where you get a green, yellow or red light to signal the current 3G network coverage strength or Wi-Fi connection. iPhone 3G and iPod Touch users can also look forward to CD like sound quality which is another improvement being made via a new software. Skype calling over 3G networks (officially name to be announced) will be available from the Apple store very soon. Stay tuned for updates! Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb 1 Comment - click to add another comment Nokia Ovi Maps now free of charge! January 22, 2010 at 10:05 am by Hannah \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Applications, New Mobile Phones After evaluating the whole navigation industry, Nokia have now announced that Ovi Maps is now completely free, even turn by turn navigation for walking and driving. Nokia have referred to this announcement as ‘freemium’ - premium content for free. 10 recent Symbian handsets will be able to download the newest version of Ovi maps for free which offers navigation for driving and walking, which uses Navteq map data that includes pedestrian only footpaths and alleyways. The service also includes access to data from Lonely Planet, Michelin, Facebook, Time Out and wcities. These maps are available in 74 countries and went live as of 21st January 2010 at 1030 GMT. Maemo users (including the N900) will have to wait for this update, however it will automatically be available on all GPS-enabled Nokia phones from now on. In the future, UK customers will also be able to get devices with pre-installed maps of the UK and Europe which allows for a full navigation experience without having to use maps over-the-air. In addition, to lessen the impact of the map data on your storage space, Nokia has created an all-new hybrid (vector graphic based) map data format that reduces file sizes considerably. If you fancy getting your hands on Ovi maps for free straight away, the first 10 handsets to participate instantly include the Nokia E72, E55, E52, N97 Mini, X6, 6730 Classic, 6710 Navigator, 5800 XpressMusic, 5800 Navigation Edition and the 5230. Bookmark at: StumbleUpon \| Digg \| Del.icio.us \| Dzone \| Newsvine \| Spurl \| Simpy \| Furl \| Reddit \| Yahoo! MyWeb 1 Comment - click to add another comment Poor 3G coverage? There’s a femtocell service for that… January 20, 2010 at 9:58 am by Mark \| In Mobile Content/Services, Mobile Networks, Wireless Products And Services Okay, so that title doesn’t work quite well as Apple’s ‘there’s an app for that’ campaign but if Vodafone are to be believed then their “Sure Signal” box does. The “Sure Signal” is a small box which plugs into your broadband hub, either at home or in the office and is said to “significantly improve 3G signal indoors” If this is true, then this little bit of kit could be worth its weight in gold to those of us who suffer with a signal that is defeated by bricks and mortar; unfortunately however, this will apparently only work with Vodafone’s 3G network but even so, if it works as well as claimed, hopefully a few other networks will jump on the bandwagon and sort out signal problems. How much is this magical little box that does what Vodafone alone cannot? Well, apparently if your on a £25 a month contract or more, then it will set you back a one off £50 fee; which when you think about it, is worth it if it means no more having to stand near the closest window, just to get a strong enough 3G signal to check your email? We’re going to go with yes on that. 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