Author Archive: James Richardson

BBM Music launches in the UK

It’s been a busy day on the BlackBerry front. As well as announcing two new smartphones RIM also made BBM Music available here in the UK.

BBM Music is a cloud-based social music service which allows users to discover and share songs from the likes of Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI with your BBM contacts. The more friends you are connected to on BBM, the bigger your music library becomes. 

Here are the basics:

1 – Choose your 50 songs from a library of million of tracks. You’ll need the new BBM.

2 – Add new friends and you can add their songs to your collection too. The more friends you have, the more new songs you can discover – and share.

3 – You and your BBM Music Friends can share each other’s 50 songs and chat about them in real-time.

You can find more info within BlackBerry App World.

BlackBerry Curve 9380 Specification

The BlackBerry Curve 9380 was announced today and if the price is right this one could be rather attractive to many. Running BlackBerry 7 the 9380 comes packing a 806 MHz processor, a 3.2 inch capacitive display and a 5PM camera. These specs are pretty low end but that is not a surprise. If you are after the best touch screen BlackBerry experience then you need to look at a Torch. I believe that the Curve 9380 will have a place in the market but I cant see it taking over from the Curves we already have that come with a hardware keyboard.

We will have one of these in the house in the next day so expect a video followed by a full review.

I am looking forward to putting this one through its paces. You can see the specification below along with some additional photos.

BlackBerry Bold 9790 specification

With this mornings earlier announcement by RIM of the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 I thought we had better get the full specs up on the site. Personally I think this new Bold will be a big hit for RIM and I find it quite nice to think that consumers will soon be able to go into a retail store and have a choice of up to six BlackBerry smartphones running the newest version of the software, BlackBerry 7.

Specs wise the 9790 is not the flagship device but it does come with a 1GHz processor, 2.45 inch capacitive touch screen and the traditional full QWERTY keyboard that us BlackBerry users love.

You can see the full specs below along with some additional photos of the device.

Pre order the Galaxy Nexus from Three

The new Galaxy Nexus, available for pre-order from Three today, brings together the best Android software from Google and the best hardware from Samsung. It will be available in Three stores and from Three.co.uk in the next couple of weeks.

Android fans will be delighted to know that the Galaxy Nexus will be the first device in the UK to launch with the very latest version of Android, 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. Ice Cream Sandwich includes the latest innovations in Android software, including Face Unlock, which uses facial recognition to unlock your phone, and integration with the new Google+ social network.

The Galaxy Nexus also features a true 4.65″ HD resolution screen (1280×720) with Samsung’s new HD super AMOLED technology. This allows for stunning video playback, HD gaming and vibrant pictures. HD super AMOLED means that your content is visible outside even in the brightest of conditions and has amazing viewing angles.

With a 1.2Ghz dual core processor delivering superfast graphics and increased power efficiency, slim line design, front and rear cameras, this metallic silver device is set to impress. The Galaxy Nexus also supports HSPA+ and RX diversity, so when Three’s HSPA+ network upgrade is completed at the end of the year, using the internet on the phone will be even quicker.

Galaxy on Fire 2 goes free and Valkyrie Add-on exclusively available for Xperia PLAY

For the first time ever, the award-winning sci-fi trade shooter Galaxy on Fire 2 is available for free, exclusively for the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY. Also first time on the Android platform, Xperia PLAY users can purchase the add-on Valkyrie.

Fishlabs Entertainment, one of the world’s leading independent mobile games developers, finally releases the first add-on for its popular action-packed space trader Galaxy on Fire 2 on Android: As of today, Galaxy on Fire 2 – Valkyrie is exclusively available for the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY smartphone on the Android Market via in-app purchase for £ 2.99. Furthermore, all gamers who own an Xperia PLAY device will also be able to download the award-winning sci-fi epic Galaxy on Fire 2 for free until January 1st, 2012.

More details and a video below:

O2 begin London 4G trial

O2 has begun a 4G LTE trial in London. The trial will be available to around 1000 individuals, which will run until June 2012, and will offer speeds of up to 150 MB per second on the spectrum used.

Over 25 4G sites will go live across London this month, covering a combined area of 40 square kilometres, between now and summer 2012.The network will stretch from Hyde Park to The O2 in Greenwich and has been carefully designed to cover key areas of the capital, including Canary Wharf, Soho, Westminster, South Bank and Kings Cross.

The network will enable O2 to provide a mobile internet experience comparable to the fastest landline fibre home broadband connections, unlocking a wealth of services including high speed corporate LAN access, high-definition film and music streaming, mobile online gaming and high-speed access to social networks. At these speeds, the time to download a 500MB file could be as fast as under one minute, compared to over 5 minutes on 3G.

Samsung Omnia W available at Play.com

If you are in the market for a new Windows Phone sim free then the Samsung Omnia W may be a contender. Play.com are now showing the device as available and in stock for £339.99. In terms of Windows Mango devices we do not yet many to choose from here in the UK. Currently your only other options are the Titan and Radar from HTC.

The Omnia W sports a 1.4 GHz processor, 3.7 Super AMOLED display and a 5 megapixel camera.

We are yet to give this one a test drive so please don’t ask for our opinions. It looks pretty good though.

You can see the Omnia W full spec below:

A fine selection of devices available now on Vodafone PAYG with Freedom Freebees

All of Vodafones pay as you go phones come ready for customers to take advantage of great value Freebees, which include a choice of free minutes, text and web access or international calls www.vodafone.co.uk/freebees. Every pay as you go customer is also automatically opted-in to Freebee Rewardz.

Every time a pay as you go customer tops up as little as £5, they’ll receive a text giving them a voucher code. They can then go online to ‘grab’ an instant reward or bank them as ‘grow’ points, to save up for something bigger. www.vodafone.co.uk/rewardz

Customers can choose from a wide selection of rewards including big name discounts from brands such as Thorntons and BLOCKBUSTER, music downloads and free minutes or choose to take a mystery reward, which could be anything from a smoothie maker to an iPhone. Alternatively, customers can collect points towards vouchers and experience days.