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Archive for October, 2011
Samsung Electronics today announced that it will be hosting its second bada Developer Day in the UK which will take place in London on Thursday 3rd November. The event follows the launch of bada 2.0 in August and aims to encourage more developers and brands to incorporate bada 2.0 into their application strategy.
The event will include a mixture of sessions hosted by Samsung, a look at how apps are changing consumer behaviour and future trends that will change the mobile market, as well as demonstrations of the updated bada platform and latest bada 2.0 devices, including the Wave III.
Attendees will receive an introduction to bada 2.0 and a demonstration of the key differences and enhanced features of the updated platform, such as multi-tasking, Wi-Fi Direct, Near Field Communication (NFC) and voice recognition. They will hear about the future of the bada platform and its USPs in comparison to other operating systems and the commercial opportunity for bada 2.0 and Samsung’s Wave III.
The event is also a chance for attendees to hear more about the bada 2.0 Power App Race, a global competition celebrating the launch of bada 2.0, and to expand the bada ecosystem. The first 10 bada 2.0 applications to achieve 100,000 downloads at Samsung Apps will be rewarded with a $3,000,000 prize package, including $1,000,000 in cash. The registration period for the bada 2.0 Power App Race ends on 31st December 2011.
Fresh from last weeks Nokia World I noticed this morning that both Orange and Vodafone are now showing the Nokia Lumia 800 as coming soon on their sites. Prices are not yet confirmed but Orange are showing the device as ‘from free’ although this of course will be dependant on the amount you want to spend and also the contract length.
If you are looking to get a Windows Mango device then this one could well be worth waiting for. The hardware is glorious and with the added bonus of having Nokia turn by turn navigation built in you cant really go wrong.
We will of course have an unboxing video and full review in due course. Watch this space.
You can see more details of the handset below.
The 603 from Nokia is a device that we here at tracyandmatt have pretty much overlooked. That reason is that it runs Symbian and due to previous experiences with the OS most of us have been put off.
The Nokia 603 runs the latest version of Symbian, Belle, and when I saw the device in action at Nokia World I was pretty impressed. The OS didn’t really resemble any of my previous memories which was a real joy.
I found an expert to give me a brief walkthrough demo and also a look at the NFC enabled Bluetooth headset.
I think I shall pay more attention now to the Symbian devices however I am a little concerned at how long they will be supported, what with Nokia adopting Windows Phone as its primary operating system.
Anyway, you can see the video below. Please let us know your thoughts either on the forum or by the Facebook integration at the base of the post.
The HTC Rhyme is another of those HTC handsets that’s been know about for a while, although was previously known to the community as the HTC Bliss. Styling-wise the Rhyme is very much your typical HTC android powered phone but the colour has meant that many critics have jumped to say that the Rhyme is ‘too girly’ for the mass market. Personally I’m not convinced that’s true. Having had the Rhyme in my hand I think the colour is quite nice and I have no problem with it at all.
Another departure for HTC is in the packaging and accessories included with the HTC Rhyme and it’s almost a return to the old times with a good quality wired headset, leather pouch and a beautiful angled docking/charging station.
There’s also another unusual accessory is the light-up phone charm included in the box. This acts to alert you when you have a missed call or a message. Different!
Check out the unboxing and demo video below and we’ll have the review up soon!
While most of us have been focused on Nokia’s new Windows Mango phones we mustn’t forget that they also have some new lower end devices running on the S40 platform. The Nokia Asha 200 and 303 are clearly designed with messaging in mind as both have full QWERTY keyboards and come packed with social networking and instant messaging applications.
The Asha 200 is a dual SIM device which may appeal to many and comes with an extremely low expected price of only 60 Euros.
Slightly more expensive at 115 Euros is the Asha 303 which combines a large 2.6" capacitive touch screen with a high quality QWERTY keypad.
The device harnesses a powerful 1Ghz engine, 3G and WLAN to deliver a fast Internet experience. Social networks, email and IM are at the center of the experience, easily accessible from the homescreen. The Nokia Asha 303 is powered by the cloud-based Nokia Browser, which by compressing the web by up to 90%, provides higher speeds and a more affordable access to the Internet.
You can see a brief demo of both devices below:
The Motorola Defy+ launched a few weeks ago and proved to be so popular that initial stocks were snapped up within a matter of days leaving many wanting. News just in today from The Smartphone Centre though says that they finally have the Defy+ back in stock available for next day delivery.
Full press release from them follows:
The Smartphone Centre is pleased to announce additional stock of the very popular Motorola Defy Plus has arrived.
Building on the Motorola Defy’s life-proof heritage, the Motorola Defy Plus offers exceptional protection from whatever life throws your way with its water resistant, scratch resistant and dust proof design (IP67). In addition, the Motorola Defy Plus has a 1GHz processor that runs 25 percent faster and is more fun with the latest version of AndroidT 2.3 (Gingerbread) delivering a smarter operating system and better battery life to fully enjoy your experiences.
As with all handsets that we sell at The Smartphone Centre, we’re offering free next day delivery on the Motorola Defy+
For further information, or to place your order please visit the Motorola Defy Plus product page.
Posted by: Matt
Last night in London Samsung kicked off its Galaxy Note tour at Battersea Power Station. While the venue was impressive and so was the the Note it was a strange affair. The reason it was strange was that Samsung treated the event as an announcement even though we all knew about the Note and also the Galaxy Nexus that they also ‘revealed’ to the European market.
The Galaxy Note they demoed was the white variant which I had not seen before and to be honest it looked highly impressive. Samsung are clearly confident that there is a market for a device of this size, 5.3 inches. After getting hands on with the Note I can certainly see it being popular. The proof though is in the pudding and we will have to se how sales turn out.
I managed to get a demo of the Galaxy Note, which you can see below. I am sure you will agree that the S-Pen is pretty cool.
Samsung today announces the launch of ‘S Choice’, a new category of applications designed for the Galaxy Note’s S Pen which will be available to customers from Samsung Apps. In addition, the Galaxy Note itself will also now be available, earlier than previously announced, for customers to buy in the UK from Thursday 3rd November.
The S Pen, the Galaxy Note’s advanced pen-input technology, works with the full touch screen of the Galaxy Note to ensure owners can easily create and consume more content whilst on the go and enjoy a unique user-interface. New applications already available from ‘S Choice’ include Soonr, OmniSketch, Zen Brush, ComicBook!, and iAnnotate PDF.
The Galaxy Note removes the need to carry or switch between multiple devices by combining the benefits of a notebook with the portability of a smartphone, creating a whole new on-the-go user experience. Featuring the world’s first and largest 5.3″ HD Super AMOLED display, the highest quality display available on any phone, the Galaxy Note offers customers an immersive and best in class viewing experience while they are out and about.
I got hold of the new Nokia Lumia 800 earlier today and what an absolutely beautiful phone it is. In the following video I show you briefly around the device and take a quick look at Nokia Drive which is the built in satellite navigation software that will come pre-installed on the device. Nokia Drive could well be the important unique selling point when it comes to Windows Phones. None of the other manufactures have built in voice guided navigation software , so Nokia Drive could well be one of the key features in driving sales of the new devices upwards.
I was suitably impressed and considering it is free I can potentially see me using a Nokia phone again in the future. It has been a while.
You can check out the video below:
Whilst at Nokia World today I got to meet a nice chap called Paul who was demonstrating the Nokia Lumia 710 so I got him to show me a few of the key features with the new Windows Phone Mango device.
Nokia Music is a fantastic new service from the Finnish company and one that the public will absolutely love, and it’s free! As you will see in the video it is not just a case of streaming music as the Lumia 710 and 800 will also cache the music meaning you don’t have to be online to listen to the tracks. Perfect for travelling by plane for example.
The Nokia Lumia 710 also has a range of changeable back covers meaning you can customize the device to suit your mood. A hit with the younger generation I would imagine.
You can see the video below:
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