Another new device announcement today from Samsung, this time they announce the new, sleek-looking, Samsung Steel. You may, however, be disapointed to learn that the Steel will be exclusive to Vodafone customers.
Samsung Mobile today announces the new Samsung Steel, developed exclusively for Vodafone.
The Samsung Steel is designed for the style-conscious user who is keen to own the very latest in mobile design. This slim and stylish slider phone stands out from the crowd with its polished and sophisticated metallic finish, as recently seen on the popular Samsung Soul.
Made with the highest quality materials, the Samsung Steel boasts premium design with its minimalist exterior encasing a 2.2” screen capable of 262K colours. It also offers users super-fast internet access at turbo speed with HSDPA, making it the perfect choice for swiftly sharing images and video content, surfing your favourite websites, emailing friends or downloading great summer tracks.
The quality three megapixel camera is ideal for capturing those timeless moments and with the built-in auto focus you will never take a blurred photo again, giving you print quality shots everytime you click. You can also record those special moments with the video capture option, either way you will be proud to take out your phone to snap that perfect shot with the stylish Samsung Steel.
“With the Samsung Steel we wanted to create a multimedia handset with a timeless appeal and premium feel,” commented Mark Mitchinson, Vice President, Samsung Mobile UK and Ireland. “Samsung Steel’s elegant exterior and user friendly features will appeal to a broad range of mobile users making the handset the next must-have accessory.”
The Samsung Steel is capable of supporting up to 8GB of expandable memory which means you can store all of those precious moments on the handset. With the Bluetooth™ capability you can then share all of your files with friends and family by transferring them to your PC, laptop or any Bluetooth™ enabled device. The Samsung Steel provides today’s consumer with a multifunctional mobile encased within one of the slickest designed handsets on the market.
The Samsung Steel is an exclusive handset developed specifically for Vodafone. “We are incredibly excited that we will be offering our customers another great value exclusive from Samsung. We think it will really appeal to those customers who want to access the internet, stay in touch with email or update their favourite social network site while on the go. Above all we are pleased to be continuing our promise to range new and exciting handsets that deliver a great customer experience,” commented Chris Edwards, Head of Devices for Vodafone UK.
The Samsung Steel will be launched in the UK in June 2008.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung, Samsung Steel]
I’m sure that most people are now aware of the complaints generally made about a few HTC devices and their apparent lack of video drivers and related performance issues. (If this is new to you then you might want to read our posts about HTCClassAction.)
Now I’ve had my HTC TyTN II since August 2007 and consider myself to be a pretty heavy user (I use the phone heavily, I’m not over weight!) but for the most part I’m unafected by the problems that many other people report, on the rare occasion that I watch video on the TyTN II it plays ok and for the business apps I use, email mainly, I have no problems.
Well, that’s true until recently. For the past few weeks I’ve noticed problems with the hardware keyboard. When I am typing a chunk of text the letters appear in the wrong sequence on screen. Now before you all call my typing in to question I’d like to point out that I thought I was making a lot of typos too to begin with but then the problem seemed to get worse. So after a little more testing I discovered that some key presses appear on screen quicker than others so, for example, when I type a line of text I might see ‘Hih owa rey ou?’ where other letters are taking priority over the space key. Closer scrutiny reveals that pressing the space and then a letter results in letter then space on the screen!
At first I thought this was a problem with the keyboard itself but later discovered that sometimes it would be ok but at other times it would be much worse. It seems ok straight after a soft reset but gets worse over time. Even a hard reset seems not to cure the problem!
So I thought I would ask all of you out there if you have the same or similar issues? Please share with the rest of us!
I’m really hoping that the official TyTN II ROM update will solve the problems!
Posted By: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
It’s been a while coming, but the TyTN II 6.1 performance update is nearly here!
Although not on the HTC website yet, oddly Modaco are hosting the file here. The file name is RUU_Kaiser_HTC_WWE_3.28.405.0_radio_sign_25.83.40.02_1.65.16.25_Ship.exe and will become available officially within a few days.
The update is for HTC TyTN II devices but updates for branded devices are expected shortly.
Paul from Modaco commented:
“The update adds Windows Mobile 6.1 with improvements such as the ‘Getting Started’ wizard, Threaded SMS and general performance and battery life updates, as well as HTC’s ‘video performance’ update. So what’s it like? Performance IS improved, however with no real video acceleration, don’t get your hopes up TOO much! Thanks to tweaks in 6.1 in general plus HTC’s optimisations, the device DOES feel a lot slicker in use, although if you are coming from a ‘cooked’ ROM you have probably seen the speed improvement already.”
Posted By: Mark
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, HTC, TyTN II]
Symbian have just published their Q1 2008 results and it looks like Symbian penetration is very much on the increase. It would be interesting to see how Windows Mobile results compare though.
The press release is as follows:
Symbian Limited, the market leader in open operating systems for mobile phones, today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the first quarter ended 31 March 2008:
Symbian Limited unaudited Q1 2008 financial highlights
|
Q1 2008
|
Q1 2007
|
YoY change
| |
| Symbian OS Units | 18.5m | 15.9m |
+16.5%
|
| Average Royalty / Unit * | US$4.1 | US$4.5 | |
| Royalty GP% * | 97% | 93% | |
| Turnover | |||
| Royalties * | 37.9 | 37.9 | |
| Consulting Services | 4.8 | 2.5 | |
| Partnering & Other | 0.8 | 0.9 | |
| Total | 43.5 | 41.3 |
>
Highlights – Q1 2008 as at 31 March 2008
Nigel Clifford, Symbian CEO, commented:
“We are pleased to report yet another significant milestone for Symbian. With our customers shipping a total of 18.5 million Symbian mobile phones through over 250 major network operators globally in the quarter, we have now surpassed the 200 million cumulative shipment mark. In fact, by the end of the quarter, a cumulative total of 206 million Symbian mobile phones have been shipped by the world’s leading handset manufacturers and each of our licensees has shipped a new Symbian mobile phone model since the beginning of 2008.
The world’s five leading handset vendors announced nine products based on Symbian OS v9 during Q1 2008 including UIQ-based Motorola Z10, Sony Ericsson G700 and Sony Ericsson G900 as well as S60-based LG KT610, Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator, Nokia 6220 classic and Samsung G810. We also experienced an increased demand for consulting services which indicates a broadening and deepening customer phone project pipeline.”
Q1 shipments – a wealth of new models
Eight handset manufacturers launched 13 new Symbian models (multiple variants not included) bringing the total number of models in the market at the end of Q1 2008 to 154 with a total of 235 models shipped since the formation of Symbian. These cover a broad range of market segments and form factors including high-end converged devices, smartphones and mid-range mobile phones. The majority of these new phones are based on Symbian OS v9 including Symbian’s latest product offering, Symbian OS v9.3, which is currently shipping in Japan. At Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona in February, four licensees announced a total of eight new mobile phones based on Symbian OS.
Symbian Outlook – beyond the smartphone space
“Symbian continues to lead the smartphone OS market but is focused on increasing its share of the overall mobile phone market from 7% at the end of 2007” (Source: Strategy Analytics), said Nigel Clifford.
“For the past ten years, helping our customers succeed has been our number one priority. Deploying Symbian OS helps our licensees to differentiate their devices and deliver faster shipment times-to-market across multiple market segments as well as benefiting from Symbian’s superiority in platform quality, features and power management.”
“Achieving 200 million devices is testament to the commitment to excellence of Symbian engineers and of our thriving ecosystem of thousands of developers. We’re pleased with our progress and excited about the next wave of mobile innovation.”
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, symbian, Tracy & Matt]
News today that Orange have released their new internet radio device. Details can be found below but lets hope that we wont have to pay data charges on top ot that! 😛
Orange today announced its entrance to the UK internet radio market with a wireless internet radio device called Liveradio. The launch extends Orange’s provision of telecoms services for the home, allowing it to offer a complete end-to-end internet radio solution.
Liveradio is a wireless internet radio device which gives broadband customers access to over 4,000 local, national and international internet radio stations. Already a success in France, Orange is now giving consumers in the UK an opportunity to enjoy their or unique music experience with the product.
The radio works in conjunction with the specially designed Liveradio website: www.orange.co.uk/liveradio. Once registered on the site, users can customise their presets, create specialist folders for easy reference and add the stations they want to listen to via a simple ‘drag and drop’ function.
What’s more, if the song being listened to is shown on the Liveradio’s screen, users can simply press the ‘bookmark’ button on the radio and the details of the track are added to the ‘My Favourites’ section on the Liveradio website, along with an option to buy from the Orange Music Store*. By clicking on the ‘buy’ link provided, Orange Music Store will be presented in a separate window allowing the customer to purchase the track if available for £0.99 from a catalogue of over 1 million tracks. Orange mobile customers can also take advantage of the unique dual download service resulting in them instantly receiving the track on their mobile for no additional cost.
Figures revealed earlier this year show that more than eight million people listen to internet-based radio every week in the UK (source: Rajar 2008).
Mike Newnham, Vice President of Home, Orange UK said: “The internet radio market in the UK is growing at an increasingly rapid rate and Orange with its home internet pedigree is well placed to be part of it. The Liveradio device we’ve launched today is testament to our ability to offer consumers a multi-platformed entertainment experience, and is the first of many such products Orange plans to offer for the home.”
The Liveradio is priced at £99.99 and is available immediately from www.orange.co.uk/liveradio or from 1st June at selected Orange retail stores.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, internet radio, Orange, Tracy & Matt]
A few weeks ago I was able to get my hands on the new GSmart MW700 and although I was only able to use the demo unit briefly I was reasonably impressed with it. This week I had another package arrive from Taiwan, this time containing the retail version of the MW700 and it’s ‘bigger brother’ the MS800.
Although I say bigger brother, the two devices are almost identical, they have the same RAM, ROM and CPU and both include a SiRF Star III GPS chipset. Where they do differ though is that the MS800 is a 3G/HSDPA version where the MW700 is GPRS and EDGE. The MS800 also has a built in radio.
We are going to review the two devices in jointly as there is little difference between them. Enjoy the unboxing video for now and we’ll be back when we’ve had time to ‘put pen to paper’ as it were.
Gigabyte GSmart MS800 Specification:
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, GSmart MS800, Gigabyte, Tracy & Matt]
Samsung Mobile has today announced the launch of their latest music mobile, the Samsung F400, with audio technology by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower.
The Samsung F400 is the style-conscious choice for users who do not wish to compromise technology for design. This elegant and stylish music slider phone contains a fantastic portfolio of functions whilst remaining lightweight and simple to use.
This compact dual slider phone delivers high fidelity sound tuned by Bang & Olufsen and ICEpower audio technology via a slide up speaker that uses an adaptation of Samsung DNSe technology, creating a 3D sound effect. The Samsung F400 also contains the SmartBass™ system with full digital amplifier.
Equipped with a full host of music features to give ultimate clarity of sound and easy access to free your music, the Samsung F400 boasts a dedicated musical user interface with music recognition via FindMusic™. You can easily access your full music library at the touch of the music hot key. You can also use Windows media player sync to upload your favourite tracks and tune into your favourite station on the FM Radio with RDS.
The Samsung F400 employs a timeless contemporary design with sleek lines and great attention to detail, making the handset highly desirable to the brand savvy design conscious mobile user.
“With the Samsung F400 we wanted to create a multimedia handset which allows users to share their music with others as a way of expressing who they are and the Samsung F400 embraces this,” commented Mark Mitchinson, Vice President, Samsung Mobile UK and Ireland. “The handset demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to providing consumers with innovative technology which integrates seamlessly with everyday life.”
The Samsung F400 offers users Internet access via the 3.6 Mbps Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), enabling them to download music at great speed.
Mobile photography is also made easy with the Samsung F400 which contains a 3 megapixel CIF camera with flash and uses a 2.2” 262K QVGA (262K colour) screen. Packed with a microSD slot that supports up to 4GB the Samsung F400 truly combines the needs of today’s consumer into one multifunctional device.
The Samsung F400 launch will be supported by an extensive £2 million national advertising campaign, including print, radio and digital mediums. Samsung will launch a microsite for artists to share their music offering the chance to have their music form a part of the Samsung F400 radio and online advertising campaign.
The site will feature a voting mechanism allowing users to rate from unknown bands’ music. Users can upload their music to the Samsung music bank which can be accessed via applications on Facebook, Myspace and Bebo social networking sites.
The Samsung F400 will be launched initially by O2, Orange, Virgin, The Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U.
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Samsung, F400]
Today’s mobile phones are computers, cameras – even route-finders – all rolled into one – but which is best for your needs? Bobbie Bhogal, founder of mobilesplease.co.uk, offers a quick and easy guide.
Mobile phones have evolved into amazing multi-functional devices more akin to “beaming up Scotty” than making phone calls. You can snap pictures, record videos, send and receive emails, play games and listen to hours of music – even find your way via GPS satellite. So what deals make the best sense for your needs?
Your profile, your phone
The best mobile phone deals are contracts that are designed to meet your specific needs and do not expect you to squeeze your daily requirements into an inflexible, “nearest fit” package.
The “best” deal is the most appropriate deal for you at this time in your life and depends on your way of working and socialising: your particular lifestyle. It is an arrangement between the phone provider, the network operator and you that ensures you have all phone features that are important to you, plus the flexibility, the amount of inclusive minutes and texts and the overall service that best match your way of living.
This is your “caller profile”, in mobile phone parlance. The answers to questions such as “Do you use your phone mostly off-peak or during peak times?” “How often do you pick up voicemail messages” and “How many text messages do you send on average per week?” help define your specific profile. An astute mobile phone provider – or an intelligent filtering system on-line – will then match your profile to several deals, balancing different features and package details. You are then able to make an informed choice and find the best mobile phone deal for you.
What might well look a daunting task at first sight – so many different phones and varying deals – is, in fact, straightforward and fast once you have prioritised what you really need from a mobile phone. That’s need to work and live your life, as opposed to what could just be fun to have.
With the fast filtering systems and easy feature/price comparisons available, buying a mobile phone on-line makes good sense. A high-street phone shop has significant additional overheads to an on-line outlet and that advantage can be passed on to you, the customer, in value-added deals. So why not get thinking about your lifestyle right now, start comparing phones and packages and see just how quickly the best deal for you pops up?
“Mickey Mouse” phones?
When shopping for a mobile phone, most people have the same two questions high on their list: “Should I choose a prepaid service plan or a regular monthly billed plan?” and “What about connecting to the Internet?” Let’s look at them in turn.
Prepaid minutes can be spread over several months, usually two or three, so if you only use your phone occasionally, it can be less expensive than paying every month for airtime that you won’t use. There is no credit check involved – unlike monthly billing arrangements – no monthly service fees, monthly bill, security deposits or contracts to sign.
You can keep much better control of costs – you know exactly how much you will spend because you purchase the air time up front. There no need to disclose your real identity, either – think of all those thrillers in which the character is presented with a new mobile phone: you can guarantee it is prepaid and therefore anonymous. In most cases, you can activate a prepaid phone plan under any name you wish, even Mickey Mouse!
Prepaid is more expensive on a per minute basis. Typically, a minute will cost twice as much in a prepaid plan compared to a monthly plan, so it is well worth checking the plan’s details before buying. Sometimes, not all services are included – you may not be able to surf the wireless Web, for example. Beware, too that extras may cost a lot more: long distance calls, for instance, may be charged a premium fee over what monthly consumers pay.
In short, you can buy and use a prepaid phone and calling card almost as you would with a disposable camera: beautifully hassle-free; the downside is you will pay a higher fee for each minute.
Prepaid or not?
If all you want is a phone to have in case of emergency and rare calls; if you know you will not use more than 20 minutes per month, then a prepaid plan is ideal for you. If your credit rating is shot, then prepaid is usually the only solution (although some companies will also accept you in a monthly plan but only with a huge deposit).
Business travelers are usually served better by national or international “one rate” plans, paying only one rate, no matter if you are in another country. However, you pay for that privilege, so occasional travelers needing a phone may well be best served buying a prepaid phone in the country they are visiting and buying a card when they arrive.
Monthly contract phones offer the best deals for minutes and texts but the do tie you in for a minimum period (12 or 18 months). They also enable you to have a superb phone effectively for free, often with regular upgrades.
WAP goes the cell phone
WAP or the Wireless Web refers to browsing a stripped-down version of the Web right on the screen of your mobile phone. It can be used for retrieving email, placing orders, looking up movies, restaurant listings or sports results, for example.
If that appeals, then choose a phone with a “minibrowser” – the special kind of browser used for surfing the net on a small mobile phone screen. Look for a graphic browser, not just a text-based browser. Also, if you think you will browse the wireless Internet often, you may want to consider buying a PDA phone – a cellular phone with a larger than average display.
All modern digital cell phones can be used as if they were a modem. With a data cable, short-range wireless Bluetooth or often your laptop’s infrared connection, you can use the phone to connect to your usual ISP while on the road, or to your mobile phone company’s data service (usually requiring an additional subscription).
Check what kind of data speed the phone you are examining supports: GPRS, EDGE, 3G and the new HSDPA (3.5G) services (such as on the Nokia N95 or the HTC TyTN II).
Whether it’s the cool exterior, the sleek lines and slim form factor, or perhaps the 5 megapixel camera, GPS or superior music-playing functions that appeal, the important thing is that your mobile phone does what it needs to for you at the moment. It can be a business tool, a fashion statement, a personal safety device – or all three at once. And with the right package of minutes and texts, it can even be fun!
Story by: Bobby Bhogal
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt]
A chance to win one of ten GSmart PDA phones in their new competition starting on the 20th May. Competition details and the press release below:
GSmart, the innovative PDA phone supplier, has extended its lively image and brand color onto the product package, website and also the event held in some countries. The innovative image has inspired some GSmart users to develop two short films for GSmart based on their perceptions of GSmart products. Both short films are showing on the GSmart event website and are presented with creativity and sense of humour, also clearly shows the niche features of GSmart t600.
The film ‘delicious t600’ casted a poodle dog that has addicted to the dog food picture taken by t600, which represented the outperforming VGA screen of t600; the skinny and fragile looking dog surely has catches the viewer’s attention. The second video presented the niche TV function of t600 by comparing the technology in different era and the evolution of technology, a clever way to show the feature of the product and also praising the great innovation of GSmart.
Inspired by these video clips, GSmart decide to hold an event to invite more creative ideas and also wish to learn more about end user’s perception about GSmart product via this event.
Win a GSmart device by showing your creativity: www.gigabytecm.com GSmart is holding a creative CF competition from 20th May to 20th June. The online event is to invites global end users to show their creativities by creating a commercial film for GSmart products. GSmart stated that the film does not need to be professionally made, but the contents must convey a positive message about the product, also the originality and creativity are the major judging criteria.
10 GSmart devices are waiting to give away!
GSmart has set up a GSmart group on Youtube where participants can upload their video onto the youtube group and register the participation on GSmart event website from 20th May to 20th June. Top 10 videos will be selected and announced on 30th June, the judgers will evaluate the videos based on 4 criterions – Originality, creativity, popularity and quality, and the winners are able to win a GSmart device!
Although the event starts form 20th May, the event website is ready to preview, the two video clips made by the GSmart fans are also broadcasting on the event website, worth to take a look!
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, GSmart MW700, Gigabyte, Tracy & Matt]
About a month ago we reviewed the MWg Atom Life and were pretty impressed with it. Since then I managed to get my hands on an Atom V for review and I’m working on the review at the moment. For now though take a look at our unbox video below.
MWg Atom V Specification
Posted by: Matt
[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, MWg, MWg Atom V]
Connect
Connect with us on the following social media platforms.