Mobile Phone News:

Long-time readers will know I’m a fan of Opera. No, not the music (long-time readers will also know I’m an unashamed metalhead), but the company who make web browsers for mobile phones. I’ve got both Opera Mini and Opera Mobile on my phone (I downloaded ‘em both to review), and I still say their browsers top any other mobile browser in existence (mentioning no names *cough*Safari*cough*).

So, imagine my excitement about Opera Mobile 10 going on beta release. Then imagine my annoyance that it’s only available for Symbian S60 phones like the Sony Ericsson Satio, when the phone I own is Windows Mobile…

So, what’s new in Opera Mobile 10? Well, basically, the best way I can describe it is that it’s Opera Mini 5. It really is, it looks absolutely identical to the Mini version that’s available in Java format.

Not that that’s a bad thing, of course, because Opera Mini 5’s really very, very good. I do have one complaint with Mini, though, when compared to the version of Opera Mobile we have on Windows Mobile (currently, version 9.7), and it’s this: Opera Mini doesn’t seem to be able to zoom in as far as Opera Mobile, and also, it doesn’t support multiple different levels of zoom, which the Mobile version (at least on WinMo) does. I sincerely hope Opera Mobile keeps the multiple levels of zoom that the WinMo version currently has, because it’d be a real shame if they do away with that feature.

However, considering the Symbian version of Opera Mobile had been lagging badly behind the WinMo version, this update is a very good thing, and there’s also rumblings that those of us with WinMo phones will also be getting version 10 at some point, so if and when we do, I’ll gi’ it a try.

In the meantime, Symbian users, I’ll leave you with video of it in action, since it’s almost certainly better than whatever web browser you’re currently using…

If you’ve got a Symbian S60 phone, you can download Opera Mobile 10 on Opera’s website.

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By now, we all know what the different mobile phone form factors look like. There’s bar (or candybar), where the phone’s effectively one block. There’s flip, which can be either a traditional flip (where the hinge is at the bottom, a shape you barely ever see nowadays), or clamshell (where the hinge is at the top, like the Motorola RAZR).

Then there’s swivel phones, which have never been that popular, anyway.

And finally, of course, there’s slidephones, which encompasses both up down slidy phones like the Sony Ericsson Aino, and side sliders like the upcoming Nokia N900. And that, basically, is all mobile phones ever. It’s a somewhat sobering thought to realise that all mobile phones ever have fit into one of four different design categories (albeit with some sub-classification, like up-and-down/sideways sliders).

All that diversity, and yet only four chassis designs…

Well, according to GSMArena, there might soon be a fifth design out there, if Brazilian designer Fabrio Dabori has his way. Although, if I’m honest, the Hook concept isn’t really a new design at all, as far as I can tell. It’s simply a refinement of the existing flip and slide phones we currently see.

So what’s new about this design? What’s its unique hook (ha! See what I did there)? Well, put simply, the flippy or slidy part of the phone wouldn’t be a whole panel that flips or slides, but would be what looks like a little loop of metal or plastic, as you can see in the pic on this blog post. That little loopy bit would be the part that’s flipping or sliding open, and since it’s tiny (and since the mic is on the end of the hook, as Dabori calls it), it could potentially make for much more compact phones, which are still able to put the mic near enough your gob for you to have a proper, audible conversation.

So it’s quite clever, really, because of that simple concept, which basically makes a bar phone into something approaching a flip or slide phone, without actually being a flip or slide phone. The point of it, as far as I can see, is to give a standard bar phone an unlock mechanism similar to flip and slide phones, without having to be flip and slide phones.

I’d be lying if I said I can see much point to the Hook concept beyond that, but hey, it’s something new, and that’s always a good thing.

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Ah, it’s always nice to see a new Sony Ericsson phone get leaked, especially when it’s a proper, high-end smartphone. That description seems to fit pretty well for a phone that looks to be, to all intents and purposes, the younger sibling to the Sony Ericsson Satio (their big flagship phone, at least until the X10 gets released).

According to PhonesDB, it’s called the Sony Ericsson Kurara, it’s very definitely designed to sit in the top tier of Sony Ericsson’s smartphone range.

For starters, as you can tell from the pic, it’s a proper, full-on, touch-based phone (again, drawing parallels to the Satio), and it looks as though it’s running the same Symbian-based interface as the Satio. The screen’s the same size as that 12MP monster, although it’s said to be an AMOLED screen, which is considerably better than the TFT screen in the Satio.

And then, there’s the camera, which, on the Sony Ericsson Kurara, comes in at 8 megapixels. However, if you think that means it’s getting short-changed in the optics department, I invite you to have another hard look at the pic on this blog post, and notice what’s written next to the camera, on the back panel. I’ll give you a hint, it’s two letters, the first one’s ‘H’. And yes, the second one is ‘D’…

Yup, according to rumours elsewhere online, the Sony Ericsson Kurara has got HD video capture, at 720p resolution. And you know what that means? The Kurara’s not just the Satio’s baby sister, it’s looking lie it’s designed to take a shot right across the bows of one of the Satio’s closest rivals. You know the one I mean. The Samsung i8910 HD. The phone that is, in my eyes, a near-perfect Symbian phone. Soooooooo, it’s going to be very interesting to see how the two phones compare to each other. Sony Ericsson certainly seem to be getting their act together just recently, with phones like the WinMo-powered X2 and the Android-powered X10 (and of course the Satio), so I’m intrigued how it’ll compare to what is easily the nicest Symbian phone currently out there.

Also, its name is only two letters away from curare, a poison South American tribes tip their blowdarts in, that kills prey by relaxing their muscles and causing asphyxiation.

We’ll have to see if the Sony Ericsson Kurara can take our breath away like that (Haha! Geddit?! Oh, please yourselves)…

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Well, alright, let’s not beat about the bush, the survey in this case was “me, looking at the number of comments we’ve had from people on blog posts relating to cheap touchscreen phones”. There is no scientific basis for what I’m about to write, and in all honesty, there was no actual “survey” as such, it’s merely an observation I made, which I found interesting.

As you all probably realise, I keep an eye on the comments you make to these blog posts, sometimes to kick somebody sweary out, sometimes to answer people’s questions, and so on. Seriously, I reckon we have some brilliant commenters, here (and if you’re wondering whether I include people who disagree with me in that sentence, most definitely yes, it shows people are thinking when they want to actively debate things).

It also gives us a bit of an insight into what’s bubbling under the subconscious of our average commenter about what’s hot and what’s not. And that’s where we come to the bit I noticed this morning, when I noticed which posts have had the most comments recently.

That’s because there have been but two phones, recently, which seemed to have attracted the lion’s share of the comments: the Orange Vegas and the Samsung Genio. And I find that intriguing, because the one thing they both have in common is this: they’re both cheap touchscreen phones. That is, I reckon, significant, because in the past, it was the likes of the Nokia N82 that would get the most comments. But now, it seems, the Orange Vegas has taken up the mantle, one particular blog post about it getting 36 comments.

And I reckon I know why. I reckon that touchscreens are immensely popular among you guys reading this, but the other bit of their description, the ‘cheap’ bit, is the big draw. Am I right? Is a cheap price more important than top-end features? Or are the readers who want the Genio or Vegas more inclined to comment on blog posts than the people who want, say, an HTC HD2?

Either way, it’s an intriguing thought.

So, what do you guys think? Are these the most popular phones on the market, or are the people who buy them just more likely to comment than other readers? Or is there some other reason? Leave us a comment and have your say!

Here we go, this is something that caught my eye today, that I just had to share with you all. It’s not a mobile phone, but it is a handheld device, and there’s a big link to mobile phones coming up in about paragraph five. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog post, I have tried, and failed utterly, to see what the point of it is. So, really, this blog post is basically me asking all of my readers if they can fathom why you’d want this particular device.

Y’see, what we have here is the ‘TwitterPeek’, from the same company who made the Peek mobile email device (which, as a side note, is something else I can’t see the point of). And the reason I can’t see the point of it?

All it does, literally all it does, is Twitter. And nothing else. Whatsoever. However, before this descends into a debate over whether Twitter is brilliant or banal (the real answer to that is neither, it’s the users who make it either of those things), I’ll explain why I think it’s pointless.

Put it this way, do you know anyone who’s sole means of staying in touch with people is Twitter? No? Me neither.

But here’s the killer. Consider modern mobile phones. I’ll give you two examples to get you started: the HTC HD2 and the Android-powered Motorola DEXT. Apart from being gorgeous phones, what do they have in common? That’s right, they’re both part of the modern smartphone boom which is, at least in part, built around social networking. And crucially, they both have integrated Twitter apps.

You see where I’m going with this? We already have handheld devices that do Twitter brilliantly. They’re called mobile phones. And they do lots more besides Twitter. So I’m at a genuine loss to work out who the TwitterPeek is aimed at, and who’d want to buy it. To me, it just seems to be another box you have to carry round, and to add insult to injury, it’s a box that only does something your phone already does, and (and this is a big ‘and’) charges you for the privilege.

Oh yes, didn’t I mention the price? Their website only gives prices in American money (presumably, it’s only available in the USA?), but it’s listed as being $99 (about 60 quid) for six months free usage, followed by $7.95 (a fiver in real money) per month afterwards; or there’s the deal at $199 (12o nicker) for the unlimited lifetime subscription. Now, granted, those prices aren’t massive, but why would you want to pay for a second box you have to lug about with you, that’s replicating something your phone already does for free?

And so, it’s over to you, dear readers. I am genuinely at a loss to say what the point of the TwitterPeek is, so if anyone can think of something, then please, leave a comment. That’s the whole reason I did this post, after all, to try and see if someone could work out a reason I haven’t spotted…

Can you think of a point to the TwitterPeek? Leave us a comment and have your say!

A while back, Dell announced their first ever smartphone, the Dell Mini 3i, an Android powered beastie that was destined only for China. And it looked rather nice, if a little conservative in places. Oh, and it was only going on sale in China. Which was annoying. Well now, a version of that phone is due to be launched with a GSM antenna in it, and that means it’ll (theoretically) work in the UK, which much improves our chances of actually seeing it on shelves over here.

They’ve even given it a new name, according to Unwired View, who are reporting that the phone’s turned up in Brazil. The version with the necessary bits and bobs to (theoretically) work over here is now called the Dell Mini 3iX.

The first noticeable difference is, of course, the interface, in that it’s now in English, so we can actually have a look at what the phone’s doing.

And of course, I need to try and describe the looks…

Er, they’re a bit eclectic, aren’t they? Those icons put me in mind of a packet of Skittles, if Picasso had painted ‘em. It’s pretty standard practice, nowadays, to re-skin the Android interface when you release a phone using it, and there’s no doubt whatsoever that the Dell Mini 3iX has been re-skinned. By someone who had a religious experience while watching Chorlton and the Wheelies would be my guess…

The big addition over the Chinese version is the fact the phone now supports tri-band 3G, and WiFi, which (theoretically) means it’ll work in the UK. I’ve no idea whether we will actually see it on shelves over here, but I hold Dell computers in very high regard (both my PCs are Dells, y’see, and they’re rock solid, PLUS my advice to anyone buying a laptop is always G.A.D… Get A Dell), so I’m really crossing my fingers that we will.

So, will I get one? Well, no, because my next phone will undoubtedly be the HTC HD2, but the Dell Mini 3iX looks like a solid, reliable phone.

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

Unless you’ve been living under a considerably large rock (one which doesn’t have internet access) for the past few weeks, you’ll know the iPhone is going to be landing on Orange very soon. For the first time in the UK, you’ll soon be able to use the iPhone 3GS on another network besides O2, without having to jailbreak the phone.

‘Tis big news, as our own news section has commented on, and possibly the biggest bit of news recently has been that Orange have now announced their pricing structure for the iPhone.

As much as I don’t like the iPhone (and I don’t), that is properly newsworthy, that.

So, what can you expect?

Well, if you cast your eye down this blog posts, you’ll see I’ve grabbed the pricing guide from Orange’s website, for your perusal, since there’s no way I’m typing that lot out. Seriously, there’s about 403 different tariffs on there, it’d take me ages.

Well, alright, there’s 9 pay monthly packages, not 403, but still…

As you can see, though, the big thing with Orange’s iPhone tariffs is, as with O2, data access. As in, you get unlimited data access (subject to a fair usage policy, naturally). Oh, and as with O2 again, the pricing’s geared very much towards a 24 month contract, and they’re the ones that’ll give you the best deal on the phone itself.

So, yes, if you’ve been waiting to get your hands on an Orange-flavoured Apple phone (yes, I’m aware that joke was awful, but I’ve typed it now, and I fear the backspace key), now you know what you’ll be paying to get one.

More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!

Look, I know that we here in the UK aren’t getting the Motorola Droid (well, alright, we are, but it’ll be called the Motorola Milestone), and I know that we care about the American network Verizon about as much as we care about the state of literacy in Latvia, but this advert was too cool not to show you, okay?

Since, you know, it’s got a distinct hint of action film about it, and you’d never know it was for a phone, if they hadn’t spelt it out at the end…

Yep, that really does look like they got Michael Bay to direct it. It bears all the hallmarks of that most hackiest of hack directors (well, alright, second hackiest after Uwe Boll). Lots of jump-cuts: check. No shot longer than 3 seconds: check. Bears absolutely no relation whatsoever to the source material: check (look, I’m still bitter about the two Transformers films, alright?). In fact, other than the running time, there are only two differences between this advert and the average Michael Bay film. One, the ’splosions aren’t big enough, and two, it was made by a director who at least knows how to frame a shot…

The question is, can it be better than the Samsung bungee-jumping-elephants ad, or the spacehopper-filled advert for the Sony Ericsson Satio? Weeeeell, I’m not sure, the CGI’s well done, and those stealth bombers look ace, but it doesn’t have the joie de vivre of twelvety-billion people on spacehoppers, or the sheer, massive wtf-quotient of two elephants bungee-jumping out of a UFO…

Still, futuristic CGI stealth bombers. Dropping weird non-exploding ordnance, with robot-eye-things in ‘em. S’gotta count for something, right?

Which is best – giant spacehoppers, elephants in a UFO, or CGI stealth bombers? Leave us a comment and have your say!

Ooh, it’s always fun to see somebody go completely off their rocker, and have a proper pop at someone else. It’s always nice to know big, important companies are as petty and vindictive as all us normal people are (well, alright, as we can be, when crossed). Today’s rant comes from Adobe, according to Engadget Mobile, who have decided to clarify, once and for all, why people can’t use Flash on the iPhone.

As you can see in the image on this blog post, they’ve updated the page you end up on, if you try to get Flash on the iPhone. And it now reads:

“Apple restricts use of technologies required by products like Flash Player. Until Apple eliminates these restrictions, Adobe cannot provide Flash Player for the iPhone or iPod Touch.”

Them be fighting words! I love it when you see a rant like that online, for two reasons. One, it’s incredibly sulky and pointed. Two, it has the added benefit of being absolutely true.

The only reason why they can’t port Flash over to the iPhone is because Apple don’t allow it under their terms and conditions, specifically the one that says “an Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple’s Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).”

Since I can’t see that ever changing, I can’t see it being likely Flash will ever run on the iPhone. Which is a bit of an issue, and not for Adobe, but for Apple. The iPhone 3GS may be a lot of things, but if you can’t actually view websites you want to view on it, it kinda defeats the entire purpose of having internet access on your phone. I mean, after all, more phones are coming out with it built-in, straight out of the box (the Sony Ericsson Satio springs immediately to mind), so if Apple are adamant they won’t let it on their phone, that’s going to make it less appealing, isn’t it?

And that’s not me doing Apple-bashing, that’s just common sense, surely?

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Ok, well, I said I said I’d believe it when I saw it on the real, actual phone. And now, it turns out the leaked interface, which I didn’t believe was pukka, is actually the genuine real deal. Yes, folks, the Rachael has been announced, and not only do we now know its real name (it’s the Sony Ericsson X10), but we know that the custom interface that was leaked months ago is, in fact, the genuine article.

Isn’t it a good job I’m prepared to admit when I was wrong (grumble, grumble, mither, sulk)?

So, the question is… is the Sony Ericsson X10 unremittingly awesome? Well, no, not yet, since they only had a non-optimised prototype to show everyone at the launch, and the software was still a bit laggy. Is it, though, an incredibly sexy phone, that will be unremittingly brilliant when they get the interface and OS running at full speed?

Oh hell yes!

I mean, just look at it, it’s all purdy.

Lovely slim body, massive 4.1 inch touchscreen, what more could ye want? Specs? Okay, well, it’s got a 1GHz Snapdragon processor (just like in the HTC HD2), so it’ll absolutely fly when you’re using it. Oh, and an 8MP camera. Granted, the camera hasn’t got a flash, which is a bit of a let-down, but apart from that, s’all good.

The big killer feature is the interface, however, that beastie that I said I wasn’t convinced was real, when it got leaked months ago. And I was wrong. Ah well. I don’t mind being wrong on this occasion, because the interface, called UX (for User eXperience), is a blinder. It is, of course, all touch-friendly, and with slick animations between different screens (as you’d expect from, ooh, every single interface on the market, today). There are two bits that really set it apart, though, called Timescape and Mediascape. First up, there’s Timescape, which isn’t a million miles away from the ethos of MOTOBLUR, found in the Motorola DEXT. In other words, it’s designed to aggregate all your communications together in one screen, whether it’s your Facebook feed, your Twitter feed, your text messages, or whatever.

The other big bit is Mediascape, designed to do the same lumping together as Timescape, only this time, it does it with all the multimedia on your phone. I won’t dwell on it, since that’s pretty much exactly how the media browser works on current Sony Ericsson phones, and the fact it’s carried over into the Sony Ericsson X10 is a good thing, because their current media browser rocks.

But anyway, you don’t just want me to talk about it, do you? You want to see it for yourself. So, here’s the video promo for it, direct from Sony Ericsson:

Nice, eh? Now, sure, at this early stage, it still needs work doing to the actual phone, to get it up to speed, but once that’s done, I have no doubt this will easily take the crown of “best Android phone on the market”, much the same as the way the HTC HD2, that I mentioned earlier, has taken the “best Windows phone” crown, and for basically, the exact same reasons.

Massive screen and fast processor. It’s the new black…

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