Mobile Phones Blog

After having birthed the successful Chocolate family and coming up with the dark and glossy Wine Chocolate, LG have gone one better and came up with a clamshell handset fashioned from wood. Or at least it appears to be wood; it may well be laminated chipboard or, that preserve of all DIY TV shows, MDF.

The LG Shine Wood, officially known as the ‘LG-LB2005H’ features a 2 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth connectivity, a music player and DMB TV - an offshoot of DAB technology that allows for seamless transmission of video and audio content to mobiles.

The features sound interesting to us, but we reckon LG might want to drop the Shine prefix. ‘Shine Wood’ might read well in its native language, but it doesn’t translate that well over here;

The idea of a wooden phone isn’t totally batty - Swedx is a company who specialise in making wooden keyboards, mice and other computer attachments. But it does make you wonder what phone innovations will come out of Korea next - Bluetooth headsets made from paper?

The next time you’re taking the train home and you see a Patrick Bateman type whipping out his BlackBerry, chances are he’s not checking up on rising oil prices or hiding away the secret earnings of the next Dame Shirley Porter - he’s probably pimping out his profile on Facebook.

The launch of this new Facebook application for BlackBerries means that users can update their profiles, check and send messages/wall posts/pokes/vampire bites/whatever and add new friends whilst out and about, thanks to implementation of push technology. The application formats the display so that it replicates the look and feel of accessing your Facebook profile on a computer screen - scrolling through profiles in this reduced size format is effortless and completely natural.

Users also have the ingenious option of setting up an alert a la text messages when you receive any Facebook-related messages. The application also allows for instant uploading of pictures taken on a BlackBerry and is available to download from the BlackBerry website for free.

UK 3G network leaders 3 have hooked up with IP telephony group Skype, to collaborate on a handset that allows users to switch between the standard voice and data networks and wireless internet connections to make voice calls (VoIP). Called, imaginatively, the 3 Skypephone, it can make pre-paid over the 3 network and free internet calls and instant messages to other Skype users, provided that a secure connection is available nearby.

Users can switch between standard network calls and VoIP calls and services through one click of the dedicated Skype button, located at the centre of the phone’s keypad. The address book and contact information is integrated between the two platforms.

This is great news for mobile users whose home addresses are located in signal-opaque areas and cannot get access to basic mobile services in their own homes. As well as enabling dual-calls, the phone also features a 2 Megapixel camera, mp3 player, Bluetooth, and supports mobile TV and internet access.

The 3 Skypephone goes on sale in 3’s high street stores this Friday priced at £49.99 on a PAYG tariff or free on certain contracts.

According to a recent report by the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF), mobile phones that are reported as stolen by their rightful owners are successfully deactivated within a couple of days, in an effort to halt mobile theft figures; “Across all networks, 98 per cent of mobile phones reported stolen are blocked within 48 hours”.

The spookily-named Jack Wraith of MICAF said that: “Test on test, we’ve seen an improvement by networks in blocking. Each time, they have achieved better than they had been asked to do in terms of the 80%. We will continue to refine and test as we go on.”

Home Office figures suggest that roughly 800,000 phones were stolen last year, and are hoping that announcement of the MICAF report will help to send home the message that mobile thieving ain’t worth it; “These results send a powerful message to anyone thinking of stealing or buying a stolen mobile that it will not work,” said Home Office minister Vernon Coaker.

Phones are disabled when a user informs the authorities and their network that the phone is stolen, and the networks, using the phone’s IMEI identification number, bar the handset from making use of any of the networks services.

As well as limiting the numbers of handsets which are stolen from individuals in the street, this process has also helped to deter criminals from making off with large consignments of new phones as they arrive in the UK from overseas.

Mr. Coaker also made mention of recently published figures that suggested a drop in robberies recorded by the police compared with the same period last year: “When you bear in mind that a mobile phone is stolen in over 50 per cent of robberies, I think these figures show that joined up action by government, industry and the police is beginning to bite.”

T-Mobile have just announced new pricing structures for their mobile broadband service. Customers will now be able to pay a flat fee for 24 hours of unmetered mobile access to the web for £4.

T-Mobile reckon to have the first ever high-speed mobile service available on a pay-per-day basis, which doesn’t require customers to sign up for lengthy contracts - someone clearly hadn’t told them about the Vodafone Mobile Broadband 24 service (£8.50 per 24 hours online with speed of up to 7.2 Mbps).

The new pay-per-day mobile broadband service will launch on the 1st of November and like T-Mobile’s Web’n'Walk Mobile Broadband packages, gives punters access through a USB modem.

Speaking of Web’n'Walk, T-Mobile are also slashing the prices of their current 24-month broadband platforms; Web’n'Walk Plus is now £20 per month instead of £29, while Web’n'Walk Max is now down to £35 from £44 per month.

Breaking the figures down to rounder numbers is designed as part of a drive on T-Mobile’s part to make pricing structures more transparent for customers. Richard Warmsley, head of T-Mobile’s mobile internet division said that “;customers want clear and simple price plans that offer value for money and that is why we are offering flat-rate unlimited price packages and have further improved the value of our Web’n'Walk Plus and Max packages.”

O2 have signed deals with social networking giants MySpace and Facebook which will allow users to tweak their picture captions and profiles on their phones without eating into their monthly data allowances. The effects of this deal are tentatively said to be realised sometime in November, with rumours millers on the interweb hinting that the launch of free Facespacing will be timed to coincide with the UK iPhone launch on the 9th next month.

This alone should make the appeal of the iPhone, with its intuitive web navigation and direct computer sync features even greater - this well weapon speech tool will allow trendy urbanites and disgruntled emo kids to take a picture and instantly upload it to their profiles for complete auto ego buttressing on the move.

Vodafone unveiled a similar MySpace for Mobiles application earlier this year, providing free profile tinkerage on the move, Orange did a deal with Bebo - the ‘third’ social networking site - and Virgin Mobile has already inked deals with LiveJournal, AsianAve, and Xanga.

Today also sees the launch of O2 Broadband, an ADSL2+ service which uses the Be Broadband network, currently only available to just over 50% of the population, and at a knocked-down price for O2 customers.

During their annual sales conference held in London last week, mobile network operator 3 respectfully called on independent mobile retailers to put an end to cashback schemes for mobiles. In the last year, 3 had reportedly taken over 100 calls a day concerning cashback deals and they want their affiliates to cut it out; ‘After a year of upheaval, we value the dealers we have, but we want you to cut out the cashback.’

Director of indirect sales Bernie O’Beirne then went on to emphasis the new 3 Mix&Match tariff and how they would come to replace cashback deals and revitalise competition in the UK market.

Mobile cash back schemes have been criticised in the past for their opaque terms and conditions and stringent time restrictions on customers - in order to claim back the full cash amount, customers would have to fill in a series of vouchers that would be
sent in the post, and then send them back, along with a copy of your monthly mobile phone bill.

Customers would find themselves facing a narrow time frame, in order to get the cash back; it is estimated that over 90% of customers fail to get the full amount for a number of reasons, chief amoung these being that after waiting for a paper statement from their network to turn up, customers often found that they had next to no time to send off the vouchers complete with a statement in the time frame set by the retailer.

Factoring in this summer’s disastrous floods and the recent postal strikes as causes for vouchers not reaching sellers, and you have a recipe for mass customer dissatisfaction.

Mr O’Beirne added that: ‘The time has come to leave cashback behind. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth.’

Samsung have developed a revolutionary new handset which allows users to install and use two Sim cards at once. The sliding Samsung D880 DuoS is aimed primarily at business users who want to separate their business and personal contacts, but will also be useful for customers who want to enjoy the benefits available on different networks.

Switching between the two cards is SIMple (sorry) on the dedicated menu screen. Both cards in the D880 can work SIMultaneously (sorry again) to make and receive calls and texts. The user also can easily select which card to use for mobile browsing, e-mail and other multimedia services, so you could take advantage of some of the great Sim-only offers available from the networks - you could use one exclusively for browsing and the other for general calls and texts.

The phone is set to launch in throughout the majority of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which incorporates Russia and the Ukraine, where the demand for mobiles has increased significantly in recent years. The total number of mobile phone subscribers in Russia is said to be around 155 million, more than the entire population of the former Soviet state (142 million).

Dual-Sim handsets are something of a de rigueur feature in Asian markets, and Dual Sim holders have been on sale in this country for a while, but they’re not exactly what you’d call user-friendly.

This represents the first major westward push of such a model, and if the phone performs as well as Samsung are hoping, then marketing of the DuoS throughout Europe would definitely be on the cards.

Aside from allowing customers to install two Sims in one handset, the D880 DuoS comes with a 3.2 Megapixel camera, a large 2.3″ display and full Bluetooth support. We reckon that a double Sim handset would be a great addition to the UK market, but aren’t sure if everyone would take to it with the same enthusiaSIM - its possible Dual Sim phones may achieve BlackBerry status and become the preserve of business users.

Vodafone, T-Mobile and 3 have all opened up their extensive UK 3G networks to laptop users with their range of USB dongles.

The broadband-fast speeds that are available to 3G mobile phone users can now be used to surf on the move on any web-enabled device with a USB port. The dongles plug into the side of laptop and then allow users to view web pages, send and receive email and download files wherever there is signal - perfect for tending to last-minute details at the station if you train is late, or for surfing at the bottom of the garden, although with winter closing in, the likelihood of that happening over the next few months is pretty slim.

Still, with mobile broadband contracts starting at 12 months, you could always wait til next summer before enjoying that particular freedom of mobile broadband.

Vodafone currently offer the fastest available speeds with their 7.2 Mbps USB modem, although this service is the priciest - 3 offer the best value for money provided you already a 3 customer on a pay monthly contract, with T-Mobile offering a decent good value service with their Web ‘n’ Walk Packages.

O2 have finally announced the launch details of its home broadband service, which will simply be called O2 Broadband, scotching rumours that it was going to be called ‘Fourplay’ and provide a range of features to rival those on offer by Virgin and Orange, i.e. landline voice calls, broadband, mobile phone contracts, digital telly and Fabergé eggs.

O2 Broadband is an ISP first and foremost, and will provide customers with top download speeds of up to 20Mbps - theoretically, the service which makes use of advanced ADSL2+, is capable of hitting top speeds of 24Mbps, but given the consumer backlash against providers not being able to deliver on their advertised prices, O2 are wary about “over-promising” to customers, instead choosing to advertise a more realistic top speed.

The O2 Broadband packages are as follows:

8Mbps for £17.50 per month
16Mbps for £20.00 per month
20Mbps for £25.00 per month

O2 customers on Pay Monthly contracts will be able to qualify for a £10 discount off of the cost of each package, bringing the cost of the premium 20Mbps package down to just £15 a month - O2 customers also benefit from getting an additional 100 free text messages each month, so essentially it’s a ‘bi-play’ provider.

Totally free 24-hour tech support comes with the service, although the cost for line rental is not reflected in the prices above.

The service will initially only be available to roughly 50% of the UK population - O2 have indicated that further nationwide rollout would take place if there is a demand for it.

The 15th of October is the date set for the service to go live - customers can register to be among the first to sign up at the O2 site now.