Author Archive: Gareth

O2 wins exclusive Palm Pre deal

Palm will next week confirm that it has signed a deal with O2 which will see the mobile phone network become the exclusive UK partner for its eagerly awaited Palm Pre handset.

The Pre, which went on sale in the US last month, has been tipped as the most viable alternative yet produced to the iPhone. The new version of the Apple device – the iPhone 3GS – went on sale less than two weeks ago and a million were snapped up in the first three days.

O2 already has an exclusive deal with Apple to stock the iPhone and grabbing the Palm Pre is likely to further cement its position as the UK’s largest mobile phone network. Reports of a tie-up between Palm and O2 first appeared in May and Carphone Warehouse is also expected to stock the Pre.

O2 is believed to have seen off fierce competition for the device from Orange, which it also beat to the iPhone at the last minute.

Toshiba TG01 coming to UK in July

According  to Pocket-lint Toshiba has confirmed that it will be announcing the UK launch details of its Snapdragon powered TG01 mobile phone on the 9th July.

The phone, first announced back in February, will be the first handset to feature the Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon processor and promises to take on the iPhone, Palm Pre and HTC Hero when it eventually launches in the UK.

The Toshiba TG01 is a skinny 9.9mm running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with a 4.1-inch WVGA 800 x 480 384k pixel resistive touchscreen, 3G HSPA, WiFi, GPS and A-GPS.  It also features Toshiba’s own 3D user interface, and is the first device to use Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon QSD2850 chipset.

Although Toshiba is keeping quiet on an operator launch partner, it has already teamed up with O2 in Germany following an announcement on Monday.

Image courtesy of Slash Gear

Uniea Reintroduces Cases for the New iPhone 3Gs with New Look and Features.

Universal Electronic Accessories (“Uniea”), a leading designer and manufacturer of innovative electronic accessories, is set to unveil updates of four classic Uniea cases that will work with the newly-released iPhone 3Gs from Apple. The collection of cases includes the U-Suit Premium, U-Skin, U-Motion, and the U–Suit Folio Premium, all popular Uniea cases offered for previous generations of the iPhone that will now join Uniea’s new U-Glance iPhone hard case. A classic hip-case with leather-clip on the back will also be available as an alternative option.

The U–Suit Folio Premium will offer improved features, allowing easy-access to the headset plug-in and the volume-control, while still ensuring total protection in style. As always, the U-Suit Premium and U-Suit Folio Premium both feature soft, lavish leather construction that is classic and elegant to the touch and works well for the casual and business user alike. The U-Suit Premium comes in three leather options, the signature leather model, a Napa leather model, and an Intrecciato leather model, all in black.

Vodafone UK customers to get a better deal on roaming data

Travellers are now set to get even better value and greater clarity on costs when accessing the internet around the world from their mobile phones or laptops from Vodafone UK.

From July 1, business and consumer customers, across Europe, can access the internet from their mobile phone for just £4.99 per day for up to 25MB. Those who choose to only read a couple of emails, or quickly check Facebook for example, and keep their usage below 1 MB, will be charged on a per kb rate. Receiving and replying to a short email will use around 100KB, which would cost just 50p.

Once a customer reaches 1MB the cost will be £4.99, but the next 24MB are free. This would be enough data to browse approximately 250 internet pages, read and reply to 25 emails, find your way to a restaurant on Google Maps, read eight news stories on the BBC website, change your status on Facebook and watch three 90 second videos on YouTube. Any further internet usage will be charged at £4.99 for each 25 MB.

Rolando for iPhone – review

Let’s face it: computer games are fun and iPhone and iPod touch are very well suited for mobile gaming, even though they don’t have gaming controls like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Since games are so much fun, we decided that we will cover games for iPhone and iPod touch to a bigger extend than previously.

Here we are reviewing Rolando for iPhone made by iPhone-specialized game maker ng-moco – a company that received several million of venture capital and that has been promoting heavily also by Apple itself (the best promotion anybody can get!):

Jailbreak app enables MMS on original iPhone

They said it couldn’t be done. They said the radio simply wouldn’t allow it. But that, as it turns out, is hooey. Despite Apple’s protestations to the contrary, it appears that the original iPhone is perfectly capable of sending and receiving Multimedia Messages (MMS).

Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s necessarily an above-board way to, in the words of Jean-Luc Picard, make it so. However, if you happen to have jailbroken your phone and have access to the Cydia installer, you can find an application called, intuitively enough, ActivateMMS2G.

Now, your results may vary, and even if you do manage to get MMS enabled, its use may be limited by your wireless provider, so, as always, proceed at your own risk. The package also advises not installing on the 3G or 3GS, so, well, don’t.

Frankly, Apple’s claim always seemed to be a little suspect to me. There are plenty of cheap and free phones on the market that handle MMS adroitly and have been doing so for years—you’re telling me that one of the most advanced smartphones on the market in 2007 couldn’t deal with sending picture messages?

We have now tested this with an iPhone 2G running on the UK Vodafone network and with the correct settings it works perfectly sending and receiving MMS.

via Yahoo

The Cell Phone Junkie video chat with msmobiles

Edward from msmobiles met up with Mickey Papillon at the weekend and has recorded a video interview with the Cell Phone Junkie host discussing many things.

Mickey is not only showing his gadgets, but also is talking about cellphone issues pertinent to Americans travelling abroad, such as using CDMA phones in GSM networks abroad, using Google Voice for international roaming, getting cheap mobile Internet access and how to call to USA from abroad cheaply.

The video is after the break.

O2 Extends Mobile Broadband Service

O2 today announced that its mobile broadband customers will have access to thousands of BT Openzone Wi-Fi hotspots for the first time. The partnership, which existing customers will see come into effect today (1), coincides with an upgrade (2) to O2’s Mobile Broadband Connection Manager software, enabling users to manage their data consumption more effectively.

The deal with BT Openzone offers an additional 3,000 hotspots (including most branches of Starbucks), and builds on the unlimited Wi-Fi all O2 customers benefit from with their O2 mobile broadband tariff.

O2 will also be upgrading its Connection Manager software. The new software will automatically copy existing Wi-Fi profiles from a customer’s laptop into Connection Manager during the initial installation process. This will seamlessly connect users to their home or business broadband wireless networks, without the need to manually enter security codes.

Micro-USB Phone Charger In Europe to be standard, even for Apple

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Top mobile telephone suppliers have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonization of phone chargers, the European Commission said on Monday, hailing the pact as good news for consumers and the environment.

The agreement by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other industry majors will mean phones compatible with standard charging devices are available in Europe from next year, said the EU executive, which has pushed for such a deal.

"People will not have to throw away their charger whenever they buy a new phone," said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen, estimating that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tons of waste in Europe each year.

iPhone 3GS dropped in the pool. Still works!

We’ve heard about the awesome treats loaded on the iPhone 3GS and its new fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coated body, but did you know that it also possesses some amphibious traits as well? This short video demonstrates how an iPhone 3GS managed to stay alive even after taking a brief dip into the swimming pool. We’re not exactly sure if there are any long term effects to this heart-stopping and jaw-dropping accident, but I guess there weren’t any immediate problems as they still got the chance to upload the video of this amazing yet horrific tale. Granted that this news of the iPhone 3GS being slightly water-proof is certainly good to hear, we wouldn’t suggest you go out and try this one out for yourself. Just enjoy the video and be thankful you’re not the clumsy dude who dropped his new iPhone 3G S into the pool.

[PMPtoday via engadget]