News

Acer neoTouch P300 and beTouch E110 land at Clove

Back in February Acer announced a number of new smartphones at Mobile World Congress.

Slowly making a name for themselves in the smartphone market.  The first two from the range have landed today and are beginning to ship.  If these don’t take your fancy, we are sure something else in the range will.

Acer neoTouch P300 is a great productivity tool for the personal or the business user with many features, just a few are:

• Slim and lightweight design
• Windows Mobile 6.5.3, full Microsoft® Exchange support and Office Suite
• 3.2″ touch screen
• Full slide down QWERTY backlit keyboard
• Qualcomm 7225 processor
• 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity built in
• Exclusive Spinlets application provides free streaming of worldwide music and video, that can be shared with friends and family via the web or e-mail.
• Instant access to Windows Market Place

You can read more or place an order for one HERE

Orange refreshes mobile broadband

Orange has today refreshed its mobile broadband tariffs, offering Dolphin, Panther and Racoon packages.

The Dolphin mobile broadband tariff comes with one hour of unlimited data. Customers can select to have the ‘happy hour’ between 8am-9am, 12pm-1pm, 4pm-5pm or 10pm-11pm. For £15 per month on an 18-month contract, customers will also receive 3GB of data per month, or on a one-month rolling contract, 2GB.

The Panther tariff comes with 10GB of data for £25 per month on a one-month rolling contract, or on a £35 18-month contract customers get unlimited data.

Existing Orange customers can opt for the Racoon £5 18-month tariff which comes with 500MB. Or for £10 per month, customers can opt for either 1GB on a rolling one-month contract or 1.5GB on an 18-month deal.

All 18-month mobile broadband contracts come with a free Huawei E1752 dongle or with a white Option 515M dongle for £20, which comes with an 8GB memory card.

Customers can opt for a laptop with the mobile broadband deals on a 24-month contract. The Asus 1005HGO netbook and the Compaq CQ61 notebook are available from £15 per month.

Orange will cap usage once customers exceed £40 over the standard monthly allowance (except for when roaming or sending SMS).

Orange UK Director of Broadband and Home Asif Aziz said: "Our mobile animal plans have been extremely popular as they allow customers to quickly select the right package which is best for them – so we’ve decided to extend these to our mobile broadband range – making it easier for customers to find the tariff that meets their digital needs and which is best suited to their personal lifestyle."

Posted by: James

BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 Coming Soon to Vodafone

It looks like Vodafone are the first UK network to announce they will be carrying the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. The device appeared in the coming soon section of their website today.

No news on when or how much I am afraid. We will have to be patient. However as soon as we hear any news we will let you know.

Personally I think this device is going to be great for RIM and i am confident it will ensure more and more customers switching to using a BlackBerry from their regular feature phone.

Watch this space.

Posted by: James

Microsoft’s Kin phones get slated by engadget

The guys over at engadget have been playing around with both the KIN One and KIN two and have published there thoughts. I would imagine it’s not the kind of review Microsoft was hoping for. Not only have engadget heavily criticised the new Windows phones but they have also slated the price plans that the KINs will be sold on.

Both Matt and myself have said from day one that in order for these devices to do well they will need to be sold at a really low price. Over in the USA it would seem that Verizon and Microsoft have decided not offer a great price deal on the KINs.

Oh dear, not a great start Microsoft. I do hope that the Windows Phone 7 devices will not be priced out of the market too?

Anyway, you can read the full article from engadget here.

Posted by: James

New YouTube player for BlackBerry

While I was checking out crackberry.com earlier today I spotted that they mentioned a new YouTube player was available to download for free. I like free stuff so the app was downloaded straight away.

Streaming YouTube videos on a BlackBerry never gives you the quality picture you may find on other devices but it is still good to have a decent app for when you want it. If your BlackBerry is running OS 4.6 and up then I think this is a much better solution than heading over to YouTube on your BlackBerry web browser.

This new one is rather attractive. As you can see it’s extremely colourful and it’s is dead simple to navigate.

More after the break.

Are RIM working on a BlackBerry Pad?

The guys over at bbleaks.com are convinced that RIM are currently working on a BlackBerry pad.

Apparently they have inside information and if past history is anything to go on then they may well be right. The word on the street is that RIM have ordered 8.9" display screens from Hon Hai.

Please note that the image here is a mock up of what the BlackBerry tablet may look like. It’s not a photo.

With the Apple iPad recently released I think all the big manufactures will be following suit over the next year or two.

Are you a BlackBerry user? Would you use a BlackBerry tablet? Please let us know your thoughts in the forum.

Personally, I think RIM will have to do a blooming good job to make a tablet better than the iPad. Will I get a BlackBerry pad? Of course I will. I’m an addict!

Posted by: James

Twitter for Android

Twitter for Android is now available for download in the Android Market.

Unfortunately it will only work on devices that have Android 2.1 so if you are still using an earlier version then I’m afraid you will have to carry on using your current Twitter app.

I’m not an Android user and I don’t currently have a 2.1 device laying around but I know a man that has. Phil Nickinson over at Android Central has published a video of him using the new application.

Head on over to Android Central and check it out.  We would love to hear your comments in the forum. And nice video Phil!

Posted by: James

UK to only get one of the new BlackBerry Pearl 3Gs

Yes you did read the header correctly. I have been told today that the UK will only be getting the Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105.

That’s the one with the T9 keyboard. Why this decision has been made kind of baffles me but that’s the way it is. If RIM were only to supply one of them here in the UK then I do think they have made the right choice in terms of which of the ‘Pearls’ it is. I quite often speak with people who say they are so used to typing with there feature phone they couldn’t handle using a full QWERTY keyboard. So, in my opinion, the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 will enable those users to make the transition over to a BlackBerry without making the change complicated.

As the 9105 is packed with the same high end features as on other bigger BlackBerry devices, users are going to get a decent specced compact messaging device. It wouldn’t surprise me if all the major UK carriers picked this one up.

More after the break.

Apples iPad 3G goes on sale in USA Friday 30th

If you are in the United States or know someone that is then Friday 30th April (yes, that’s tomorrow if you are reading this today!) is a big day in the Apple world. The Apple iPad 3G will go on sale. You will have to wait until 5PM to get one and clearly some shops will have queues so turning up early may be a good idea.

The iPad 3G comes with a micro sim built in and AT&T will be the carrier of choice. Prepaid data plans will be available for $14.99 (250MB cap) and $29.99 (unlimited).

The Apple iPad 3G will be priced as follows:

• $629 for 16GB
• $729 for 32GB
• $829 for 64GB

Here in the UK we are still waiting for the launch of the iPad and our prices are not yet confirmed. Both Matt and I have been lucky enough to get the Wi-Fi only iPad imported and we are both loving the experience. You can view Matt’s iPad unboxing video here.

If you are off to get a 3G version tomorrow I wish you the best of luck.

Posted by: James

BEST BUY GRAND OPENING OFFERS

Best Buy, a leading consumer electronics retailer, is set to open its doors to the public on Friday, 30th April at 7am. The highly anticipated first store will open to expectant crowds at the West Thurrock Retail Park, Essex and will be marked with four days of activities over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, with plenty of amazing deals, competitions and entertainment.

The doors will open at 7am on Friday to allow technology enthusiasts from the local area and London to take advantage of the great deals on offer before heading to work. The rest of the bank holiday weekend will be themed to showcase the breadth and depth of Best Buy’s offer with a focus on music, movies and games.

Best Buy is offering a wide range of amazing deals during the weekend, saving early customers hundreds of pounds on the latest and greatest technology. Samsung’s current 32" LED HD TV is available for only £399.99, equating to a saving of £300, whilst the Toshiba 32" HD-ready LCD TV is available for only £179.99!  Best Buy is also offering the latest Blu-Ray content, with the Avatar Blu-ray and DVD combi pack at just £9.99.  Meanwhile, football fans will have an extra reason to celebrate this, as foremost amongst the offers to look out for is Best Buy’s pledge to give customers their money back on any TV over £499 bought before 5^th June if England wins the final.

Lots more info after the break…