Mobile Phone News:

There’s no doubt that the Sony Ericsson c905 is sitting right at the top of their Cyber-Shot portfolio right now. It’s one of the most impressive camera phones ever made, and its popularity, looking at its recent sales figures, is indisputable. However, according to the SEMC Blog, it’s due to be joined by some little siblings early next year, for those people who want Cyber-Shot performance without going right to the very top-end of the list.

Expect to see three new Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot mobile phones early next year. First up, and the only one that has a proper name so far, is the Sony Ericsson C510,t he baby of the bunch, and one that’ll be, I reckon, quite obviously sold as an entry-level Cyber-Shot phone.

Especially since it’s, basically, the Sony Ericsson K770i, but newer. So, expect it to have a 3 megapixel camera, and be the cheap way to get yourself a Cyber-Shot mobile phone. In other words, identical to the thinking behind the K770i. And that was a cracking little phone, so I have pretty high hopes for the C510. Basically, if you want a decent camera phone on the cheap, I’m predicting this baby’ll be the phone for you.

Completing the trio of new mobile phones are two handsets (one candybar-flavoured, one slidephone-flavoured) that share a 5 megapixel camera, putting them neatly into what is surely going to become the mid-range for Cyber-Shot phones. It’s fair to say that the modern mid-range is considerably higher end than the mid-range mobile phones of yesteryear, which consisted mainly of a pixie inside the phone with a hole to look out of and a box of Crayolas…

First up is the Filippa, a 5 megapixel phone that looks as though it’s going to become next year’s Sony Ericsson C902, with 5 megapixels but with a proper Xenon flash added on.

Or, in other words, the K850i…

Finally, there’s the Frances, the slidey version with a bigger screen, which just has ‘baby C905′ written all over it. So, for anyone who thinks the Sony Ericsson C905 looks, to modify a phrase from earlier in the week, like the canine’s conkers (and many people, including me, do), but wants a bit of a cheaper alternative to that 8 megapixel monster, the Frances is the phone for you.

Meanwhile, if you do want the full 8 megapixel beans, you need to get yourself the Sony Ericsson C905 now!

In the bad old days, before the touchscreen mobile phone really came into its own, everyone who used one was really rather protective over its screen. Well, you would be, since you do everything using the screen. Scratching… breaking… touchscreen users used to worry about the screen on their mobile phone getting damaged.

Users of the Blackberry Storm, however, don’t need to worry about that, since a new scratch test video proves the screen’s is virtually unscratchable!

In the video, he goes at it with a set of keys (which you probably will carry in your pocket), a flick knife and a huge spike they put receipts on in restaurants (which begs the question of what he carries in his pockets). And of all those things, not one could put a scratch on the screen of the Blackberry Storm! You may be wondering how it can possibly withstand being set upon with a flick knife, but the answer’s actually very simple.

More and more mobile phones are coming out that have a glass screen, instead of the traditional plastic affair… and the Blackberry Storm’s one of ‘em. That’s how the Blackberry Storm being seriously key-ed: the screen is made of super-tough glass. And it genuinely is impressive, seeing it shrugging all that punishment off. Here, see for yourself, courtesy of Youtube:

See what I mean? That’s pretty awesome, that, and it means the Blackberry Storm is definitely one of the mobile phones you should be looking at if you want a touchscreen device. Although I suspect it is killable by glass’s natural enemies: the hammer, the well-aimed half-brick, and not forgetting, a half-empty waste bin on a Friday night at chucking out time…

If you want a touchscreen mobile phone with one of the toughest screens ever seen by man, grab yourself the awesome Blackberry Storm today!

The T-Mobile G1 captured all the headlines by being the world’s first Android-powered mobile phone, but the plan was always to have Android be a completely open source operating system, available for use in, well, any mobile phones that people felt like sticking it in. And so, a freelance company has done just that, and made the world’s second Android phone, according to Engadget Mobile.

Hailing from Australia, it’s the Kogan Agora. And if that’s not an incitement to go, “Eh? Who?” I don’t know what is…

Time for a bit of info on them, then. Kogan are a web-based brand, who basically have their mobile phones, and DVD players, and whatever else they sell, built to their exacting specs in China. And that’s how the Kogan Agora’s come about. But what can we expect from the world’s second Google phone?

Well, first of all, this here mobile phone comes in two flavours: the Agora and the Agora Pro. On both phones you get a 2.5 inch touchscreen, 3G, a backlit QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth and a microSD slot. The Agora Pro, though, being the big brother of the two mobile phones, also chucks in a 2 megapixel camera and WiFi. As for looks, well… where the T-Mobile G1 can tend to come across like a bizarre mating between an iPhone and a Sidekick, the Agora mobile phones come across like Blackberry-a-like handsets. You know the ones, mobile phones like the Nokia E61 or Samsung i780. Not that that’s a bad thing, because the Agora does actually look rather pretty, and for business-y type users, they may well prefer the more conservative design.

However… if you want one, you’ll be buying it from Australia, since that’s where the phones are made, and where Kogan’s based. It’ll start getting expensive to ship one over, I suspect, especially since you can get the T-Mobile G1 free on contract, if you really want an Android phone.

So, overall, looks pretty decent, and although I wouldn’t get one, it’s nice to see a whole range of mobile phones being released by people we’ve never heard of before.

I can’t see Nokia losing too much sleep over them, though…

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Following on from the news that the Sonim XP3 is all set to pick up where the JCB Tough Phone left off, another announcement’s popped up today, stating that Sonim are going to pair up with something else that’s got four wheels and a massive engine. According to Engadget Mobile, next year we’re going to see mobile phones from the motoring marque associated with mud, off-roading, and driving up inaccessible mountains.

Yep, 2009 will see the first ever Land Rover-branded, Sonim-made mobile phones. Has there ever been a more perfect match-up than that..?

Three models are due to be released in 2009, the Land Rover S1 and the S2 G4, followed at some point later in the year by a third, as-yet-unnamed mobile phone. There aren’t any piccies yet, but we can take some not entirely stupid guesses as to what they’ll be like.

Big.

Probably Green.

Rugged.

That is all.

However, since Land Rover’s are also a bit high-tech in places, could this be where we finally see a Sonim mobile phone with a camera on? It’d be interesting, especially if it’s a camera that’ll work underwater. Whole niche market there, boys, get it made! However, we can pretty much forget the phone having a winch on the front, no matter how much I want one. Oh, and be warned, if you have a Land Rover mobile phone, it’s reasonably possible some deranged ecomentalist won’t be able to tell the difference between it and a 4by4, and call you a planet killer, despite the fact that when you factor in environmental impact of production, the Land Rover’s probably a greener car than the Toyota Prius, and unlike that godawful G-Wiz thing which is made of bacofoil, it won’t throw battery acid all over your face, and the road, and every innocent bystander round the car, if and when you crash it…

But anyway, I digress… so, while Porsche are still hooked up with Sagem for their mobile phones, the cars known for being able to nut their way through Burma are joining up with the mobile phones known for being able to, yes, nut their way through Burma…

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It’s been a while since we had any properly mental concepts on this blog, and no, the 01Phone doesn’t count, because it’s just a mobile phone, albeit a hyper-advanced concept. I mean the proper, hardcore sci-fi stuff like harnesses to control your phone with your mind, or a mobile phone that fits in a contact lens, or a whole bendy nanotech mobile phone.

Well, we go back to the world of nanotechnology today, thanks to a story on Tech Radar. And it’s a good’n, this, as it’s about mobile phones that don’t need to be plugged in and charged up. EVER. Oh, and not only does it not need charging, but this portable, handheld, electric device doesn’t need a replaceable battery either…

Hmm, no matter how awesome the Nokia N97 is, it can’t do that!

Right about now, you’re probably asking yourself how an electrical device can work without a battery to actually give it electricity. Well, like I said earlier, nanotechnology, and materials called ‘piezoelectrics’, which can be best described as ‘not as scarily complicated as they sound’. Imagine you have a Malteser (go with me on this), but when you stamp on it, instead of it falling to bits, it stays together, but produces electricity. Materials that do that, usually ceramics or crystals, are piezoelectric materials, and they’ve been known about for decades. So, why has the idea of mobile phones without batteries only popped up now?

Because scientists have found out that piezoelectrics, when they hit a very, very, very small size (no, much smaller than that), they double the amount of electricity they produce, that’s why. We’re talking reeeeeeeeeeeally small here, about 4000 times thinner than a human hair, well into the realms of nanomachines, and Star Trek, and Stargate SG1, and gawd knows how many sci-fi shows that I’ve seen over the years. And probably a few comics. And at least one novel.

Anyway, at such a small size, those nano-particle-machine-battery-things are also much more sensitive to being prodded and stressed than bigger piezoelectrics, which means they can be made to generate power with less pressure. And that means, that in the future, IF they can make it work, and IF it doesn’t cost as much as a manned mission to Mars, we will see mobile phones that get power from sound. You talk, your phone gets power, simple as that.

So, far from draining your battery (if you’re an incessant natterer) as they do today, mobile phones of the future will get more powerful as you talk more. It’ll be awesome, but the condition is that the boffins working on this have to make sure the piezoelectric, sound-powered nanomachines don’t take over the world, and enslave us all, which is the recognised and official destiny of all sci-fi machines. And then, their lives could be powered by the sound of them crushing their frail human victims.

Never mind Asimov’s 3 Laws, what we need for these beasties is earplugs…

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Ok, this next story may have well have got drowned out in all the shouting about the Nokia N97 (yes, that included me going, “Want one, want one, want one!“), but the release of the smartphone powerhouse wasn’t the only news Nokia had to tell us yesterday.

According to the Boy Genius Report, Nokia also confirmed that their full acquisition of Symbian has now gone through. So, no more wrangling, no more negotiations, Nokia’s now in charge of the Symbian universe.

Which means what, exactly?

Well, the plan was always for Nokia to buy Symbian and then donate it wholesale to the Symbian Foundation, thus setting up a brand new open source operating system to bring about a new breed of mobile phones and take on, basically, Google Android. With the news that Nokia have finalised their buyout, we’re that bit closer to seeing Symbian Foundation mobile phones on the market.

Perhaps now is a good time to remind everyone why that’s important, and why, I reckon, Symbian Foundation is the most important thing to happen to mobile phones, ever.

The first lesson is easy: power. Take one look at the Nokia N97, or even the Nokia 5800, its keyboard-less little brother, and you’ll see just how powerful Symbian is. The version they use, S60 Touch, is going to be one of the key components of the new fledgling Foundation OS, so pay close attention to it, and you’ll get hints of what to expect (hint: something mind-blowingly brilliant, just like the Nokia N97 and Nokia 5800 are). And since I’ve fallen a bit in love with the S60 Touch interface, I can pretty assure you I’ll like it!

The second important thing: the new Foundation operating system will be open source, just like Google Android, meaning anyone can write software for it, or even change the base software, however they want. So, it will get more awesome than it starts out at, at launch, as people write new tools and new apps for it. And considering that even launch mobile phones will rock, that gives you some idea of how good it will be when it gets even better…

And the final important thing: the sheer number of companies already signed up to the Symbian Foundation. As it stands at the minute, fifty-six separate companies have signed up (including Nokia, obviously), and that list includes all but one of the five main UK networks, all but one of the big five mobile phone manufacturers in the world, and various other massive names like Opera Software, EA Mobile and Visa.

Basically, with Nokia finalising their Symbian buy, I don’t reckon it’s understating it to say that the future has just started happening…

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Well, it turns out the people who were secretly wishing for a new phone from this morning’s announcement were right after all. Headlining the Nokia World conference is a brand new mobile phone from the Finnish manufacturer. And anyone who guessed ‘touchscreen Nseries’ was right…

It’s the next evolution of Nseries mobile phones: the frankly mind-blowing Nokia N97. And it’s just biblical in its awesomeness.

First up, we might as well talk about the touchscreen since that’s gotta be the first thing people will ask about with the Nokia N97. It’s a big’n, too, coming in at 3.5 inches. Oh, and the aspect ratio on it makes it a proper widescreen, so if you’re wanting to watch widescreen movies on your mobile phone, the Nokia N97’s the beastie to do it on!

With that touchscreen comes the latest incarnation of Symbian, the S60 Touch interface made famous by the Nokia 5800. And trust me, this is a good thing, because I’ve become a big, big fan of the S60 Touch interface. Symbian rocks, always has done, and this latest touch version is whizzy, fast, and drop dead gorgeous. Oh, and just like the Nokia 5800, the Nokia N97 has got motion sensors to auto-rotate the screen when you tip the phone on its side.

After that, though, the Nokia N97 starts to overtake its little brother, and the first noticeable difference is the slide-out, proper, full QWERTY keyboard, something I reckon is a must on any modern smartphone (simply because I hate trying to type out web addresses or anything like that on virtual keypads, or worse, a numeric keypad). Ok, it does increase the thickness of the Nokia N97, but the payoff is text being very, very easy to type.

Oh, and there’s a better camera, too, since the Nokia N97 inherits the top-end 5 megapixel camera from the more recent Nseries mobile phones. Which means stunning photos, and with things like blogging and geotagging, there’s loads you can actually do with those photos. Oh, and you get WiFi and HSDPA, along with a stonking good web browser (and Flash built in), so you do actually finally get the full internet on your mobile phone! Combine that with an unprecedented and unbelievable 32Gb of memory (plus an extra 16Gb available with memory cards!), and this is basically the multimedia phone par excellence.

That’s the objective description of the Nokia N97. Now it’s time for me to actually say what I’m thinking…

Look at it! Just look at it:

It looks the furry canine animal’s intimate bits! Look, seriously, I’ve always said there are a few criteria a mobile phone has to meet before I’ll call it my perfect smartphone, those being an at-least-5-megapixel camera, super fast web access, a web browser you actually like and want to keep using, full QWERTY keyboard and massive, high colour touchscreen. The 01Phone concept I blogged about a bit back has all those features, but it’s not actually a real phone yet, so it looks like the Nokia N97 is the first mobile phone I can honestly say is my perfect smartphone.

Or, at least, it would be if it had a Sony Ericsson badge on it, what with me being a Sony junkie. I’d better hope their next smartphone, rumoured to be running the same S60 Touch interface, with an 8 megapixel camera, is up to snuff, otherwise I may have to break my habit, and buy myself a Nokia…

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Ages and ages ago, I did a post on the top ultra-super-mega-dirt cheap mobile phones on the planet. You remember, the one where the old Sony Ericsson J110 won. Well, that list was of the absolute low-end budget mobile phones, the phones for people who want ‘em simple, cheap and really nice to use. That’s why I only picked phones without a long list of features (or, with most of them on that list, without a feature).

But what about people who want their mobile phone to be cheap, but powerful? What if you want a mobile phone that does have features, but still has a low price?

So, I don my Zorro mask, and whip out my mighty shield of justice… sorry, got carried away there… I don my Technical Markus spectacles, and contemplate the best ‘feature’ mobile phones you can get for a decent price. And yes, as superheroes go, it’s a bit bobbins compared to Superman, who can fire lasers from his eyes, but can he save you cash, eh, eh?

I think not…

Oh, and just like the super-cheap phone challenge, there are two criteria for judging these babies:

1. Must cost less than £100.

2. Must be the best at what they do, in that price bracket.

So, without further ado, here they are:

Camera phones

We’ve all seen super top-end camera phones like the Sony Ericsson C905, but what if you want a camera phone that’s got good performance, takes stonking good pictures, but comes in at under £100? Well, believe it or not, there’s a 5 megapixel phone in that price range: the Samsung G600 which is, let’s be honest, incredibly sexy. And it’s a got a 5 megapixel camera, which I know from experience (one of my mates had one) takes stunningly good photos (which yes, DO look better when it’s cost you less than a hundred quid to be able to take them)!

Music phones

There’s an easy winner in this category, since it won Phone Of The Year at this year’s Mobile World Congress… the best music phone for under £100 has to be the Sony Ericsson W910i. Not only is it a Walkman mobile phone (and you just know that means awesome music playback), but it’s a Walkman phone with Shake Control (or Jiggly Control as I tend to call it) and SensMe (something dreamed up by wizards), and it’s a fabulous all-round phone, too.

Fashion phones

Ah, fashion boutique mobile phones, traditionally the realm of people who want the best looking phone, and money’s no object. That’s why they’re willing to drop 750 notes on a Nokia 8800 Sapphire. Thing is, though, there are fashion phones that come in under £100, and although they’re not going to have diamond-encrusted shells, or premium finish steel bodies, they’re still catwalk-gorgeous mobile phones. The best? well, it’s going to be subjective, since it’s based on looks, but I reckon you can’t top the Samsung U800 Soulb, which is just mouth-watering, has an incredible screen, and actually does have a metallic finish. And isn’t £750. So it beats the Sapphire any day…

Other Mobile Phones

The final category is other, or, in other words, mobile phones that I can’t figure out where else they’ll fit. It was going to be smartphones, but since no-one actually does a smartphone for less than £100, that kinda scuppered that idea… still, adopt, adapt and improve, and that’s why this final section is an outstanding phone that doesn’t really fit in any other category. It’s designed not to be cute or to take magazine quality pictures, or any of that. It’s designed to survive impacts with comets, to shrug off water, to laugh in the face of danger. And no, it’s not the JCB phone, before you say it. It is in fact, the Samsung Solid. It may not be as tough as the JCB phone (but then, the moon isn’t as tough as the JCB phone), but it’s currently £130 cheaper, and since this challenge is about value, that’s why the Samsung Solid is here!

So, there you have it. If you want a top-end mobile phone, with top-end features, but want to pay less than a hundred quid, grab yourself one of these babies today!

News has come through from PC World that confirms how big music mobile phones are nowadays. Basically, recent figures released by the Entertainment Retailers Association have shown that over the last two years, 44 million mobile phones that’ve got mp3 players built in (which, let’s face it, is most of ‘em nowadays) have been sold, compared to just 8 million CD players.

On the face of it, that’s some pretty telling numbers, right there. However, I reckon the people doing the survey haven’t factored in something. It’s getting increasingly hard to think of any mobile phones that don’t have music players built in, nowadays (except, obviously, the budget end of the market), so any sales of mobile phones will skew that figure, even if people never actually use the music player in the phone.

That doesn’t mean the statistics aren’t valid because, well, they are. Just by looking at the market, you can see that people want mobile phones that do more stuff in just one device. It’s that old buzzword ‘convergence’ again, and despite it being a word that’s completely done to death, it is true, and it is where the market’s going. Think about it, how many people do you know who habitually carry a mobile phone AND a camera AND an mp3 player everywhere they go (well, ok, my dad, but he doesn’t count), when they can carry something like the Sony Ericsson W902 (which, on a side note, also has a proper 5 megapixel, autofocus, almost-Cyber-Shot camera, neatly filling the camera bracket, too) or the iPhone 3G (combining iTunes and top-notch internet access) and not get a hunchback from carrying 400 billion gadgets..?

Actually, that’s not a bad example, you know, since the Walkman brand of mobile phones has to have done more to have got people using their phones for music than just about any other marque (well, ok, the iPhone/iTunes, too, if you want to be picky). But then, Sony have got a history of doing that, what with the original Walkman in the 70’s and 80’s. And Apple have done pretty much done the same with their iPod range, so the iPhone 3G’s right to be included there, too.

Having said all that, I don’t reckon we’ll see the end of CDs for a while, since a lot of people have said they like to have something they can actually physically hold, but the future seems to be pretty much happening as predicted, and it’s looking increasingly that mobile phones are going to be playing a massively important part in the world of music for a long time to come.

Want the ultimate ‘converged’ Walkman phone, with stunning music and a phenomenal camera? Grab the Sony Ericsson W902 today!

Very intriguing news today, as it seems Nokia have something big in the works for their Nokia World conference, starting tomorrow. As yet, no-one knows precisely what they have in store, whether it’s new mobile phones or new services, or whatever, but it’s reasonably certain they wouldn’t put a big countdown online (that big one just up there), unless it was a big announcement.

The question is, what do Nokia have in store?

Well, the first guess, since they’re known for mobile phones, is obviously mobile phones. The thing is, though, that Nokia World traditionally hasn’t been a main platform for launching new handsets. So, is it likely to be a new service, instead of a new phone? Again, no-one has any idea (except, presumably, Nokia), so we’re going to have to wait and see. It’s pretty certain to be something relatively big, though, since the keynote speech by Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is entitled ‘transforming the way we connect’.

Yes, that did make me wonder if we’re going to get real life Transformers, I admit it…

So, what are the actual possibilities? Well, it could be some new service that completely changes how you interact with your mobile phone. Or it might not. Or, it could be something like a new email service, akin to the Blackberry setup.

Or, it could be what most people are secretly wishing for, even the ones who don’t reckon it’ll be about new mobile phones. It could be a follow-up to the Nokia 5800, their first mainstream touchscreen mobile phone, since Nokia did say they’d be announcing a touchscreen Nseries phone before the end of the year.

Or it might not be.

It could be the end of civilisation as we know it, although granted, that’s probably unlikely, unless they’re announcing the Nokia T-800 Terminator…

When that countdown hits zero, however, we’ll all know for sure (and yes, I’ll be reporting on it here, too, so keep your eyes peeled)!

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