News

Eken M001 Android tablet rival to iPad?

Rumours abound at the moment when it comes to tablet style devices, with rumours from RIM, HTC and just about every other manufacturer out there.

One little gem that one of our readers pointed out to me (thanks Mike) is the Eken M001 Android tablet. Looks pretty interesting, reasonably high-res 7″ 480×800 TFT display, SD card reader, WiFi, 600MHz CPU and 128MB RAM. The drawback is that it’s only running Android 1.6 but the biggest plus point is perhaps that the rumours say that it’ll retail for around $100, if that’s true and not just vapourware then this could be a real bargain and a great competitor to the iPad!

What do we think, real or fake?

Posted by: Matt

Another Windows Phone Twinterview

Further to our recent successful interview on twitter (twinterview) with Alex Reeve from Microsoft you may be pleased to hear that on Thursday May 20th at 12.30 hrs GMT we will be hosting round two.

Once again this will be an opportunity for both yourself and us to ask Microsoft questions about Windows Phone 7.

So please have a good think and let us have your questions. Depending on how may we get we cannot guarantee all will be asked but we will endeavour to do our best.

You can submit your questions to us one of two ways.  Firstly on the forum under this post or secondly you can email either Matt or myself:

[email protected]

[email protected]

We look forward to receiving your questions.

Posted by: James

Could this be the LG Windows Phone 7

We have already seen an early version of a Windows Phone 7 device from LG but could this new leaked image be the updated version or even the final product?

It certainly looks pretty nice sporting a new design of the three ‘oh so important’ hardware keys below the screen .

The image was ‘allegedly’ posted onto Flickr by a French Microsoft employee. Not sure if he still works there!

With Microsoft gearing up for there next ‘7’ event at the end of the month could this LG device be the one they will be using?

Either way it looks sweet.

Posted by: James

Vodafone makes BES Express offer

Vodafone is now offering BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) Express for £10 per month, and on trial for £5 per month for three months

Vodafone UK is offering BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) Express to small and medium sized business customers from £10 per month.

Customers who sign up from May 17 for a three-month period can get BES Express from £5 a month.

BES Express works in with Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Windows Small Business Server to synchronise email, calendar appointments, contacts, notes and other functions between company server and BlackBerry handset over-the-air.

Vodafone is also offering a managed support service for BES Express for an extra £2.50 a month – users will get set-up help and round-the-clock support certified BlackBerry and Microsoft specialists.

Vodafone UK enterprise marketing director Peter Boucher said: “It’s vital for all businesses to stay connected to customers wherever they are, either by voice or email. BES Express offers small and medium sized businesses the advantage of being able to do all this from their BlackBerry smartphone with the peace of mind of 24/7 help from Vodafone on the UK’s best network.”

The BES Express service is available on all Vodafone Business price plans.

Posted by: James

HTC Smart available on O2

Earlier on today we brought you the HTC Smart unboxing video and what good timing it was as O2 have today released the device on both contract and pay as you go.

The PAYG price is rather good. A mere £100.00 which if you ask me is real bargain. Contract wise prices start at £15.00 per month which gets you 50 minutes and unlimited texts.

If you are tempted by the HTC Smart you may want to wait for our full review which should be online early next week.

We should also have some additional HTC Smart videos for you over the weekend.

Vodafone UK Unveils Trio of New Smartphones

Once again Vodafone have announced a fine selection of new devices coming to the network soon.

Top if my list of ones I want to play with is the Samsung Galaxy S.

The Samsung Galaxy S 16GB http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/samsung-galaxy-s will be available exclusively to Vodafone UK customers. The stunning, ultra responsive touchscreen device is the latest generation of Android smartphones built by Samsung.
With the Samsung Galaxy S, not only will you be able to access thousands of apps through the Android Marketplace, you can make the most of the device’s social networking features, by staying connected with all your friends through Facebook, Twitter and MSN.
The Samsung Galaxy S 16GB sports a great 5 megapixel camera, capable of shooting videos in HD quality, allowing you to capture crystal clear moments and enjoy them on the huge 4″ Super AMOLED touch screen display.
Powered by a superfast 1GHz processor and teamed with an integrated Google Chrome browser, the handset allows for a smooth and seamless experience, which never slows down when you’re surfing the web through multiple browser windows.

Bing for Windows Mobile updated to support turn-by-turn navigation

Over in the USA the Bing app has had a rather impressive update – voice guided navigation.

While it is not available here in the UK I have asked Microsoft if it is expected, so when I have a response I will let you know.

Stateside we have already seen Google offer a similar app last year which launched on the Motorola Droid but I am wondering if we will also see this new navigation app pre installed on Windows Phone 7. It would certainly make sense and be a huge selling feature.

Adam from pocketnow.com has put the app to the test on video. Check it out after the break.

O2 announce iPad 3G data plans

Hot on the heels of the Orange announcement last week O2 have also just released details of their iPad 3G data plans.

O2 today announced further details of its dedicated data tariffs for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G. All iPad data tariffs will be available without a long contract and include unlimited access to BT Openzone and The Cloud Wi-Fi hotspots at no additional cost. Apple and O2 have worked together to provide a breakthrough way to easily activate, manage and monitor an account right on iPad. Customers will be notified as they approach their data limit with a direct link to iPad settings to check data usage, top up the account and upgrade or cancel their tariff.

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface. iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G models are just 0.5 inches thick and weigh just 1.6 pounds-thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook-and deliver up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.

BlackBerry 9670 caught on video running OS 6

Thecellularguru has once again posted a video of the BlackBerry 9670 but this time it is over seven minutes long!

We brought you some footage of this unofficial BlackBerry last week and I said that the design had really grown on me. After watching this new video it has grown even more. Just as interesting is that the majority of the below video is demonstrating the forthcoming BlackBerry 6 OS.

As you will see the new OS is very much BlackBerry but with some nice refinements and tweaks. It is certainly more colourful and in typical BlackBerry fashion it is simple to navigate.

I am sure that by the time both the phone and the OS are officially announced and released by RIM we will see even more refinements but in the meantime I am more than happy with what I have seen so far.

Now I just got to get my hands of once of these flippy phones!

Enjoy the video after the break..

Order an iPad today!

Today is the day thousands of people have been waiting for. The iPad can be ordered here in the UK.

You will have to wait until the end of the month to actually get it but at least if you get your orders in now it will guarantee you getting one.

As we said last week, prices are higher here in the UK than in America but when I did that post I failed to take one thing into consideration, V.A.T. We must pay an extra 17.5% than our friends over the pond but even with this taken into account our prices are still a little bit higher. Oh well. Nothing we can do about that.

Anyway, if you want to order an Apple iPad you can do so here.

Enjoy.

Posted by: James