It looks like Fring may be about to appear on the iTunes App Store, a page appeared over the weekend on Frings site stating fring is now available on the iPhone App Store making it easy for anyone to use fring on the original iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPod touch. All you need to do is download fring here on the iPhone App Store and within minutes you can make free calls with other fringsters™ or via fring using Skype, Skype-out or any SIP providers you choose.
Ofcom has fined Barclaycard the maximum amount possible (£50,000) for breaching its rules on silent and abandoned calls. Silent calls are a significant cause of inconvenience and anxiety for thousands of people every month. Most silent calls are not generated with malicious intent but occur when call centres using automated calling systems generate more calls than their available agents can deal with. When the person called answers the telephone, there is no agent available, resulting in silence on the line.
Well we are always being told to be green so the guys at Mobile Tech Moment have done a video look at the Solio Solar Charger. Not sure how well this would actually work in the UK due to our summer only happening once every three years but you never know. The Solio charger comes with various connectors for different phone types and the video shows it working with the iPhone 3G. This may be a good option if your planning a camping holiday or a festival. Check out the video after the break.
HTC announced their new candy-bar style Smartphone, the HTC S740, a few weeks ago and since then I’ve been pestering just about everyone to get my hands on one to review.
Thanks to our friends over at Devicewire I got an early PR unit to play with for a couple of days. I Haven’t had time to put together a full review but I’ve got some early comments and a nice video demonstration for you.
I have to be honest and say that I didn’t think I was going to like the S740 – it looked to me more like a cordless home phone than a Windows Mobile device and although I am a fan of Smartphones (Windows Mobile Standard) it’s been such a long time since I used one, having had the TyTN II and the Diamond recently, I wondered how I would cope without a touchscreen!
It took less than two minutes for the S740 to grow on me, going from "Hmm it’s OK" to really quite liking it in a very short time.
The QVGA screen is crisp and clear and the keypad buttons are really well placed on the front and I like the way that the numeric keys go all the way to the edge. I also found that the raised send and end phone keys were a good idea and made finding those buttons nice and easy!
The QWERTY keyboard slides open from the back and is similar to that found on the HTC Touch Pro but the S740 has only 4 rows of keys, mainly because the S740 is that much narrower than the Pro. Keys are nice and easy to type with though and there’s the standard Caps Lock and Function LED indicators.
The worst thing about the S740 in my opinion is the SIM and MicroSD card arrangement. Not only can you not hot-swap the MicroSD card, which I can just about accept, but you have to remove the SIM card to gain access to the MicroSD. Opening the cover over the SIM and MicroSD card slot kills the power to the device, this is annoying enough but removing the SIM card all the time is a pain. If you are a frequent memory card swapper this this probably going to get on your nerves and runs the risk of damaging the SIM card.
I think I cover most of this stuff in the video which you’ll find below. It’ll be a few more weeks before I get my hands on another HTC S740 for a full review but I’ll definitely make sure that we do!
Overall the HTC S740 is a nice device and it’s great to see a new Candy-Bar Smartphone hit the scene, I know that many people have been waiting for one!
HTC S740 Specification:
EDIT: Our HTC S740 review is now online.
Posted by: Matt
A gadget close to my heart and hopefully in my Christmas stocking is the Archos 5. Archosfans.com has found some fairly thorough reviews of the device and I’m alarmed that the general consensus is middling. A number of the problems outlined can be worked on with future firmware and Archos have always been good at getting these out.
The Gadgeteer has posted a review of a stylus for the iPhone called the Pogo. Seems a little illogical as the device is not designed for a stylus however this is no ordinary stylus. It comes with a nasty clip that hugs your phone, allowing you to attach the Pogo on the go-go. Check it out if your fingers are sore or something…
Earlier this week Steve was invited to Lund, Sweden by Sony Ericsson where he was introduced to a number of new SE products and services. Steve will be sharing some of this news with us all over the next few days and we’ll also have some exclusive video footage for you including a fantastic presentation and demonstration of the Xperia X1.
For now we have the SE PlayNow plus press release for you:
Sony Ericsson today announced the launch of PlayNow™ plus, which will offer users the ultimate mobile music experience with the freedom to discover, download, play and recommend unlimited amounts of music wherever they are and whenever they like, directly over the mobile data network.
PlayNow™ plus is due to set a new standard for the unlimited music experience on a mobile with unrivalled download speeds, high-quality audio and access to the largest music catalogue of any unlimited download service. Sony Ericsson’s PlayNow™ plus music service guarantees ‘all-you-can-eat’ unlimited access to millions of music tracks.
PlayNow™ plus is very easy to use, with millions of songs available on your PC or phone at the click of a button. No need for cables, PlayNow™ plus offers simplicity and a great out of box experience with 1000 of the best selling songs already in the phone.
Instant satisfaction:
Ease of Use:
Keep your favourite music forever:
Share the experience:
“All mobile consumers want to have content on their phone, but many find the experience difficult, slow and time consuming,” said Lennard Hoornik, Corporate Vice President and Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson. “With PlayNow™ plus, there will be no more barriers, we’re giving consumers the freedom to instantly discover, download, play and recommend all the music they want—anytime, anywhere.”
The service is due to launch commercially with operator Telenor in Sweden in the fourth quarter of this year, with further roll-outs around the world beginning in 2009. A special edition of the Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman™ phone including the PlayNow™ plus service will be the first phone to be launched. Sony Ericsson will include, as part of the service, 1000 of the recent most popular digital songs, with each Sony Ericsson W902 Walkman™ with PlayNow™ plus for Telenor in Sweden. Pre-loaded music offers are also planned for subsequent PlayNow™ plus-enabled phones.
Posted by: Matt
With Sony Ericsson’s inaugural Windows Mobile device set to be launched in the coming days, the handset maker has revealed that it had to convince Microsoft to embrace plans to make the Windows interface more user-friendly. To take the device beyond Windows’ traditional business roots, Sony Ericsson has added a user-friendly front end to the OS in the form of nine customizable panel icons. The panels enable users to run applications straight off the desktop, rather than digging through the Windows menu structure to find them.
There is a man in Russia who builds new cases for mobile phones from apple tree
wood. He fully disassembles new handsets and carves an individual wooden case for each device, giving them unique little touches.
Each small part gets its own wooden case – the antenna, the sim-card, the battery. The SIM card is given a tiny wooden box of its own. The antenna is also inserted into a wooden sleeve.
It makes a change from all that steel, chrome and titanium – although as time wore on and it got dropped, bashed and generally abused through everyday use, there might be a danger of splinters…
In a world where the choice of mobile is bewildering and the land-fill needed to cope gets ever larger, it turns out wooden phones are nothing new. Hulger launched a wooden phone made out of African Ziricote hardwood which, to be fair, is virtually indestructible. It would be immune to the usual handset accidents that happen from time to time.
While mine is more likely to include being dropped on to a concrete surface from pocket height, the Hulger phone is resistant to fire (within reason), a 15-metre drop or having two tons of rock on top of the device (how do they know?).
The Hulger Wooden phone (right) is, like its Russian counterpart, intended to appeal for its looks rather than its ruggedness. Oh, it costs £3,885. Sitting on the same high-price shelf the Mobiado range in ebony (with ultra-light titanium buttons and the like) – a snip at around £1,500.
Wood can be waxed, polished and gives us a unique tactile experience: tough, smooth and, above all, natural. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG – let’s have more!
Written by: Nicola Pringle for Mobiles Please.
We have spoken on the last podcast about the disappointment that we felt when we heard the news that Windows Mobile 7 would be delayed until the second half of next year and now after giving it some thought over the last few days maybe it is not such a bad thing that they are delaying it, as long as it is for the right reasons. The way I see it is there could be two reasons for the delay and let us consider what each of these reasons could be.
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