News

Orange Unlimited Data – it’s nearly here!

According to The Times today, Orange are finally ready to introduce unlimited, uncapped 3G and GPRS data usage.

Although the £8 unlimited deal has been “around/not around/maybe around” for some time, there has never been any publicity or comment from orange about the tariff.

However, according to the same source, Orange feels that per-mb pricing is keeping customers away (No! really?). Although there’s no fixed date for the introduction of the new plans, the times have managed to get a fair bit of information out of orange.

So how do they shape up?

OK, so its not a web-n-walk killer, but it is a step in the right direction, and for the people who prefer orange, but have been looking at moving, it may be worth holding off a while yet.

Posted By: Mark

[Technorati tag(s): GPRS, 3G, wireless, Unlimited data, Orange, Tracy & Matt]

Vakaadoo iPod cases

The other day I came across a company called Vakaadoo. A strange sounding name but they do some great looking products!

Vakaadoo sell cases for iPod and have just released a new range of products, called iVak, for the iPod Nano second gen. Where other cases try to add carrying pouches and side clips, the iVak bypasses all of these needless features and goes along with what Apple had in mind while designing the Nano: a skinny, sleek design.

The iVak comes in seven bright colours to match whatever colour Nano you happen to own (White, Black, Red, Silver, Pink, Blue and Green). The package comes with the case, a headphone wire holder, a lanyard and a clear click-wheel protector.

Vakaadoo is a young, creative company committed to the production of artfully engineered, high quality accessories for personal entertainment devices. We inject the Vakaadoo spirit into everything we produce.

Find out more at Vakaadoo.com – we also hope to have an iVak to review shortly.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): iPod Shuffle, Vakaadoo, iVak, iPod, Tracy & Matt]

HTC Advantage now with £15 off!

Following on from the post we made yesterday about the HTC Advantage being in stock at Clove Technology, I’m here again to give you the good news about the money off voucher that we have just set up with Clove.

As with other Clove voucher offers, all you have to do is enter the voucher code below and £15 will be deducted from the purchase price at the checkout stage.

Voucher code: HTC15APR07

The offer is valid until the end of the month so hop on over to the HTC Advantage page on the Clove Technology website and bag a bargain!

At £575 (+ VAT) we are pretty sure that Clove are one of the cheapest suppliers of the HTC Advantage and our voucher will give you a further £15 off!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC Advantage, HTC, Clove Technology, Windows Mobile blog]

HTC Advantage (X7500) in stock at Clove

The HTC Advantage x7500 is now in stock at Clove Technology.


The HTC Advantage has to be one of the most talked about devices of 2007 and priced at £579 (£680.32 inc VAT) it may seem like a lot of money but you have to consider the fact that the HTC Advantage is a Windows Mobile device like no other!

The HTC Advantage is a Mobile PC Communicator. Unlike laptops or computers, you do not need to wait for the device to (cold) boot up, you don’t have to worry about the battery dying within 2 to 3 hours or it being too heavy to be carried around.

The HTC Advantage has a huge 8GB hard drive, 256MB of ROM and 128MB of RAM combined with Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, so you can run your most demanding business applications and store all the documents and files you need.

With its always-on, high-speed global connectivity, the HTC Advantage ensure you can keep in contact worldwide. As well as your email being “pushed” to you instantly, you can wirelessly synchronise files when away from the office.

The Advantage’s integrated 3.0 mega-pixel camera takes high-quality images, so you need never miss a moment. The 5” touch screen provides the ideal canvas for viewing their details clearly. The second VGA camera gives you everything you need to make video calls. You have 3G, WiFi and stereo Bluetooth 2.0 to open up a world of communication options.

The HTC Advantage’s large VGA touch screen, means you can easily view and work on your documents – while the detachable QWERTY keyboard makes it simple for you to work with everyday office applications.

The Advantage has been optimised for outstanding performance, whether it is to deliver the best possible web browsing experience or to give you up to 8 hours of ‘working’ battery life.

The 8GB hard drive can store up to 5 hours of video, 2000 songs or 25,000 photos taken on the auto focus 3 mega-pixel camera.

The Advantage’s inbuilt GPS and TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 navigation software will help you find your way quickly and easily from door to door.

Check out the HTC Advantage page on the Clove Technology website for more info.

Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, T-Mobile, Ameo, HTC Advantage, HTC Athena, Tracy & Matt]

Dopod C730 details emerge

It’s been several months since we last heard anything about the HTC Cavalier and suddenly we discover that Dopod are set to launch their version of the device as the Dopod C730 sometime in May.

The HTC Cavalier is the eagerly awaited successor to the HTC Excalibur. The devices are similar in appearance but the Cavalier brings 3G/HSDPA to the table. It had previously been said that the HTC Cavalier would be ‘Delayed indefinitely’ and other articles refer to is as ‘Scrapped’ however, now that it’s coming to Dopod, hopefully the HTC Cavalier will see a worldwide launch!

Dopod C730 Specification

Posted by: Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Tracy & Matt, HTC Cavalier, Dopod S730, HTC Excalibur]

Save £20 with our Samsung i600 voucher

I’m sure that I lot of you have already seen our ‘Samsung i600 unboxed‘ and ‘Another Look‘ videos so if you fancy buying yourself an i600 we have teamed up with Clove Technology again to offer you a £20 discount off the purchase price!!

As with other Clove voucher offers, all you have to do is enter the voucher code below and £20 will be deducted from the purchase price at the checkout stage.

Voucher code: SAM600APR07

The offer is valid until the end of the month so hop on over to the Samsung i600 page on the Clove Technology site.

At £300 (+ VAT) we are pretty sure that Clove are one of the cheapest suppliers of the Samsung i600 and our voucher will give you a further £20 off!

Posted by: Matt

[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung i600, Orange, Samsung, Windows Mobile blog]

SanDisk and Sony announce SxS memory card

SanDisk and Sony Corporation today announced that the two companies have agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding with the intention of developing the SxS™ (S-by-S) memory card specification, with high-speed transfer technology compliant to the ExpressCard industry standard.

SxS™ memory cards will leverage the technology strength of SanDisk and Sony, who have a long and successful history of co-developing and promoting flash memory products. With this high-performance and high-reliability memory card, both companies are targeting workflow improvements for professional camcorders and non-linear video editing systems.

The SxS™ memory card specification uses flash memory and complies with the ExpressCard™ industry standard, and the card connects directly to computer systems through the high-speed PCI-Express™ bus. ExpressCard™ has been rapidly adopted by PC manufacturers to replace the legacy PC Card™ form factor, giving the SxS™ memory cards broad support in post-production hardware.

Sony will adopt this high-speed SxS™ memory card specification in its “XDCAM EX™“ series professional camcorders. SxS™ memory cards from SanDisk and Sony are expected to be available later in 2007.

Benefits

* High-speed data transfer of large video files. SxS™ memory cards are the first native PCI Express™ solid-state storage media1. PCI Express™ has a maximum data transfer speed of 2.5 gigabits per second, twice as fast as PC Card™-based storage media. In addition, SanDisk and Sony have optimized the technology protocol for controlling communication between hardware and SxS™ memory cards to enable high-speed transfer of large files, such as high-definition video, to PCs for non-linear video-editing. The target transfer speed of SxS™ memory cards is 800 megabits per second2.

* Compact Size. The SxS™ memory card specification uses ExpressCard™/34 modules (width: 34mm, height: 5mm, length: 75mm), half the size of PC Cards™. This enables the design of professional camcorders that are smaller and lighter, while still offering high storage capacities.

“Sony and SanDisk share the goal of providing leadership in high-performance, high-capacity recording solutions for professional video,” said Eli Harari, Chairman and CEO of SanDisk. “I am proud of the close cooperation we have had with Sony over the years, and I look forward to the exciting new products that SxS™ memory cards will enable.”

Yutaka Nakagawa, Executive Deputy President and Corporate Executive Officer of Sony Corporation, said: “Sony has successfully collaborated with SanDisk Corporation in promoting the Memory Stick formats. Significant milestones have been the Memory Stick PRO format in 2003, the Memory Stick Micro in 2005 and Memory Stick PRO-HG in 2006. I am delighted by today’s joint announcement of this new technology, which expands our collaboration to a new area, the professional video market, offering great benefits to users in this field. With the introduction of this SxS™ memory card, we will seek to expand its use throughout professional video applications to enable highly efficient workflow systems.”

Posted by: Matt

[Technorati tag(s): Tracy & Matt, SanDisk, SxS, Memory Stick Micro, Sony]

Nokia N95

There is no denying, within the Windows Mobile/Smartphone community, Nokia is considered to be something of a bad word. The word itself is often deliberately misspelt.

However with devices such as the Nokia N95 gradually developing more PDA-like features it’s becoming harder to ignore them.

The Nokia N95 was recently launched and offers functions similar to those that you would expect from a Smartphone but within a Nokia package running Symbian OS 9.2. The N95 is available to buy now from Clove Technology and more operators are offering the device to customers.

With all the advertising for the N95 cropping up all over the place we decided to take a look at one to see what all the fuss is about. Over the next few weeks we shall let you know what we think!

Nokia N95 Specification:

Features:

Quad Band

5 Mega pixel camera

GPS receiver

HSDPA/UMTS

WiFi

Bluetooth

Universal plug and play technology

What’s in the box?

Nokia N95

Nokia Video Connectivity Cable CA-75U

Nokia Connectivity Cable DKE-2

Nokia Stereo Headset HS-45, AD-43

Nokia Battery BL-5F

Nokia UK Charger

Printed Manual

Getting Started CD

Samsung i600 hits Orange website

Ok, so now it’s official, the Samsung i600 will be available on Orange ‘soon’. The device is now on the Orange website for all to see.

No details for the exact release date just yet but with the Samsung i600 being made avalable on the Clove Technology website I don’t suppose it will be too long before it becomes available to Orange customers. Probably business customers only to begin with as seems to the the way with Orange.

See for yourself on the Orange website or check out our Samusung i600 video.

Matt

[Post tags: smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung SGH-i600, Orange, Samsung Windows Mobile blog]

New CamerAware update

Paul from MoDaCo has just been in touch to let us know that there is a new vesion of his excellent CamerAware application available.

This latest BETA version of CamerAware includes the following changes:

– Added additional expert options (exit on disconnect)
– Updated auto bluetooth logic
– Updated GPS subsystem
– Updated installer code
– Added full screen mode
– Added support for night skins (included)
– Added support for customisable alert bar colours
– Improved horizontal alert bar reliability
– Updated power management settings when running but disconnected
– Updated to latest version of support libraries
– More menu options are now accessible without disconnecting
– Just for fun… 0-60 timer function added

Check out the full news item on MoDaCo and don’t forget to have a listen to our CamerAware podcast interview with Paul.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, MoDaCo, cameraware, podcast]