Mobile Phone News:

A quick bit of news, now, that’s come down from Nokia themselves, about their upcoming Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen multimedia mobile phone mashup, one of the most talked about mobile phones of the past few months. Quite a bit of the talk’s been about when the phone will be available, and now, according to Nokia, we have a rough date.

Put it in your diary folks, because the Nokia 5800 is due to be officially released in the UK on January 23rd. The first places to get it will be the Nokia Store in Regent Street, and then, bizarrely, their shop in Heathrow Terminal 5. And no, I can’t work that one out, either, since Terminal 5’s chaotic enough with all the exchange students, people waiting for connecting flights and protesting hippies, without adding 4 million slavering Nokia fans into the mix…

Still, the important news is that the Nokia 5800 is on its way, and will be here before the end of the month! Join in the excitement, and leave us a comment!

Now, here’s a story that could end up impacting massively on the wide, wide world of mobile phones. Well, eventually, anyway. Sync Blog are reporting that a brand new class of memory card has been announced at the CES (the Consumer Electronics Show, for anyone who didn’t know) in Las Vegas, which’ll allow you to store a lot more data on your device.

I’m not talking 8Gb. I’m not talking 16Gb or 32Gb.

I’m talking 2 terabytes, or, to put it another way, 2,000Gb…

Two. THOUSAND. Gigabytes.

Dear god, that’s massive. Now, needless to say, it’s not going to be that big on launch, and of course, no mobile phones will actually work with it yet, since the new cards themselves, called SDXC (for Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) aren’t compatible with current SD slots. But, can you imagine them not appearing in mobile phones? No, me neither. Just imagine something like a next-gen Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, say, where they’ve changed the card format to SDXC. That instantly gives you 2Tb of music on your phone, or in the region of 500,000 songs.

That, of course, begs the question of how the hell you’re ever going to fill something that size! I’ve put a large part of my record collection on my X1 Xperia, and I’ve only used about a gig and a half. And that’s with the songs in higher-quality-bigger-file-size format, as well. I suspect there isn’t actually enough music in the world to fill 2Tb. Put it this way: DVD movies come on discs that are usually about 9Gb in size, so if a single movie, with all its extras on that disc is 9Gb, you’d be able to fit over 200 DVD-quality films on the 2Tb SDXC card. And yes, that includes all the extras on the disc, too…

Why do I get the feeling that a fair few mobile phones, when they get access to these supermassive cards, will be filled with films of an, erm, artistic nature…?

No words on prices or when we’ll actually see a 2Tb memory card in the wild, let alone when they’ll shrink one down to microSD size to fit in mobile phones (and you just know they’ll fit it in a card the same size as my fingernail), but as soon as more info turns up, we will be shouting about it!

Say we do get a future version of the Nokia 5800 with that much memory; what would YOU fill it with? Leave us a comment and share your ideas (but keep ‘em clean)!

Well, it seems that Motorola have started their big comeback tour, according to their press release from yesterday. Coming up are two brand new mobile phones from the American manufacturer, which they predict will set the world alight. So, let’s have a look and see how accurate that claim is, shall we?

First up is the big daddy of the two mobile phones, the new Motorola MotoSurf A3100 which isn’t, despite what I thought when I first saw the name, the MotoSmurf. As you can see, it’s going to be another Windows Mobile phone, but this time, fully keyboard-less, lending it more of an iPhone-esque air. Or so Motorola would have us believe, anyway. Well, actually, they’re billing the MotoSurf as a true social smartphone, putting things like RSS feeds, Facebook access, and quick links to messaging and all your communication tools on the home screen, so that staying in touch is just one finger-touch away. So, kudos to Motorola for shouting about a completely new innovation in the world of mobile phones, that HTC, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have already been doing for a while…

I cite the example of the HTC Touch HD, there…

However, that’s not to say that the Motorola MotoSurf is without merit, because it is a nice looking mobile phone, if a bit cutesy for my tastes. The trackball’s a neat addition, and with the touchscreen, it should make for a phone that’s easy to navigate round. What I don’t like, so much, is the fact that the screen’s only 2.8 inches across, and is a much lower resolution than something like the HTC Touch HD, and so, won’t look half as good. The really annoying thing, though, is that Motorola should have released a mobile phone like this 6 months ago, and should, right now, be releasing something much more spectacular.

You know, since if it gets released in the UK and America, its release date will be around a similar time to (and hence, it’s going to have to take it on) the Nokia N97, which, as a smartphone, completely mullers it…

Meanwhile, in the world of non-smart mobile phones, Motorola have something else to shout about, and this one’s a bit more impressive, since it’s said to be the word’s first ever carbon-neutral mobile phone: the Motorola Renew W223. Made from plastic recycled from old water bottles (and one site is cynically suggesting they should’ve stayed as plastic bottles…), and delivered in a box made from purely recycled paper (toilet roll tubes, anyone?), the manufacturing process is also efficient, using much lower energy, and therefore saving the baby pandas. It even hammers the point home by being painted green!

Ok, I may sneer, but the Renew could steal a much bigger market share than its big brother, the MotoSmurf… sorry, MotoSurf. Y’see, the MotoSurf’s going to have some stiff competition from mobile phones like the aforementioned Nokia N97, but the Renew… well, if it’s going for the cheap and easy market, it only needs to be cheap and easy to compete, and you know some people will buy it just for the whole eco-save-the-baby-pandas thing. Which isn’t a bad thing, since it’s got just about zero competition for that little prize, and the only other one I can think of, off the top of my head, is the Baby Panda Phone (oh ok, the Bamboo phone) that I’m convinced will take root if you leave it in a cupboard overnight.

Basically, as long as the Renew doesn’t fall to bits the first time you look at it, Motorola could be onto a winner! There’s no word, yet, on whether either of these mobile phones will even reach British shores, but if and when they do, we shall have them on site for all to see!

Do you have your own ideas for the perfect social smartphone to take on the MotoSmu- MotoSurf and Nokia N97? Leave us a comment and share your wild schemes!

Or, ‘The Story of one man’s true love for his new mobile phone’…

For about the last 11 months, long term readers will remember that I’ve been going on about one particular mobile phone above all others, for the simple reason that I was absolutely dying to get my hands on one. That phone is the Sony Ericsson X1, or as I prefer to call it (to try and kid on I’m cool), the X1 Xperia.

It’s been a long wait until its official launch, but I’ve finally gone and got myself an X1 Xperia, so I can finally give you the full, exhaustive, warts-and-all review.

First Impressions

Given how much I was looking forward to getting hold of the phone, you can imagine that I was really rather excited when I pulled the X1 Xperia out of the box. First impressions: the photos of it really, really don’t do the X1 Xperia justice. It’s only when you get your hands on one that you appreciate the brushed metal finish, and the fact that the build quality is absolutely second-to-none. Some have said the X1 Xperia’s a heavy phone, and to be fair, it is heavier than a lot of mobile phones, but the payoff is that it’s much more solidly built than them as well. As Matt keeps reminding me (since he’s as obsessive over his phone as I am over mine), the HTC Touch HD is thinner and lighter, but I honestly prefer the look of the premium metal in the X1 Xperia, and probably perversely in some people’s eyes, I prefer mobile phones with a bit of weight to them.

Oh, and incidentally, having seen both colours of it in the flesh, I reckon the black one looks a lot better than the silver version, what with the nav-keys being black on both versions. The black X1 Xperia has he illusion of having a bigger screen, simply by the fact it’s black. So that’s the one I’d go for (in fact, the one I did go for).

My First Journeys with Windows Mobile

Me and Sony Ericsson have something in common: the X1 Xperia is the first of our respective mobile phones to use Windows Mobile. Yes I’ve used WM before, but I’m used to using UIQ (who’ve, alas, now filed for bankruptcy) on my old P1, so I was a bit nervous at switching to a new operating system altogether, having heard all the old horror stories about Windows Mobile phones being fiddly, buggy and slow, and having to be restarted constantly. Well, in truth, there are one or two niggling little things about Windows Mobile that wind me up a bit, and do impact upon one’s enjoyment of the X1 Xperia (albeit not for very long). Thanks to a fast processor and loads of memory, the X1 Xperia is, as I’ve said many times before, the first Windows Mobile phone that actually works properly, without the vast majority of problems that have hurt WM in the past.

In essence, the X1 Xperia took my fear of Windows Mobile and completely kicked it out my head. I do still get the ‘crashed-it-take-the-battery-off’ moments, but they’re much fewer and farther between than I’ve seen on any other Windows Mobile phones. Oh, and on the subject of Windows, it may only be able to display 65,000 colours at once, but given that massive screen resolution, and the fact that its 65k colour screen is somehow richer in colour than the 256k colour screen on my sister’s K850i, I ain’t complaining.

Using tiny keys with big hands

One of the things I was a bit nervous about on powering up my X1 Xperia was the keyboard, because up until that point, I’d only tried the keypad on a dummy model of the phone, and found it to be a royal pain in the posterior. On the real X1 Xperia, however, there are no such worries. Yes, the keyboard may be fairly flush to the metal body round it, and yes, it may be a tiny bit fiddly to use at first, but honestly, it gets easier very quickly. Like anything, there’s a learning curve, but it’ll only take you a few days to start getting the most out of the X1 Xperia. The arc slider mechanism is sheer genius, as well, and it makes the side-sliding keyboard even nicer to use, and certainly nicer than any other side-sliding keyboards that come to mind!

Internet goodness

If you’re planning on getting an X1 Xperia, then I can just about damn near guarantee one of your first decisions will be “I’m not using Mobile Internet Explorer ever again unless I have to”. Guarantee it. And you know why? Mobile IE is absolutely god-awful. It thinks it’s a browser on a desktop PC, and as good as the X1 Xperia is, it ain’t a desktop PC. If you only got Mobile IE on the X1 Xperia, then it’d be a horrible internet experience.

Ah, but there’s the rub, y’see, because you also get, straight out of the box, Opera Mobile, which is just in a different league to IE altogether, with touch optimised controls, and that finger controlled slidy style of browsing and flicking through pages, made famous by the iPhone. Well, I can categorically state, having tried both Opera Mobile on the X1 Xperia, and Safari on the iPhone (and Dan is going to argue with me about this, and possibly kill me), Opera Mobile on the X1 Xperia is better. It scrolls faster, the flicky action’s smoother, and even without the fact I love my phone, objectively, Opera Mobile is, I feel, a better browsing experience. Oh and you can do that flicking-thru-lists thing (called, I believe, kinetic scrolling) in the X1 Xperia, too, which is a hoot, and actually useful. Although, my one complaint about it is that in the contacts list, I always flick through too fast, most often missing the person I was aiming for, and ending up ringing somebody else…

Final thoughts

The X1 Xperia, or the Sony Ericsson X1, if you want to be formal about it, is an exceptional mobile phone. It’s impressively built, gorgeous to look at, and an absolute joy to use, and not only that, but its vast range of features, and the best internet access I’ve ever seen on a mobile phone, will benefit you (case in point: checking Radio Times, to see what time a film was on that I wanted to see, or daft things like that). There are a couple of things that aren’t brilliant, namely the camera only being 3 megapixels (although, to be fair to it, it’s probably the best 3 megapixel camera I’ve ever used), and the GPS (which always seems to think I’m about 30 feet away from where I actually am, when it manages to find me at all), and the occasional random glitches you get on any Windows Mobile phone. But aside from that, I’m having real trouble finding anything to fault it on. The X1 Xperia is a true powerhouse, and a good-looking one at that. It may not have the huge screen of the HTC Touch HD, or the TouchFLO 3D interface (although you can get TouchFLO for it), but having played with both, I honestly reckon the Sony Ericsson X1 is the better phone. The Touch HD makes some sacrifices for style reason, such as not having a flash on the camera, and not having a keyboard (two essential things for any phone I buy), whereas the X1 Xperia makes no compromises whatsoever.

In short, this is the best mobile phone I’ve ever owned, and it’s the first phone that I’ve fallen so completely in love with since I got the original Sony Ericsson P800 all those years ago. If you’re thinking of getting the X1 Xperia, do so, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re after a Windows Mobile phone, your best choice is between this and the HTC Touch HD, and I reckon the X1 Xperia’s the better phone. And if you want a super, tip-top powerhouse of a mobile phone, then guess what; the X1 Xperia is still the one I’d go for.

However, I am in danger of losing it, and this brings me to my final complaint about the X1 Xperia. Why did they have to make the Bubble Breaker game on it so bleedin’ addictive? I’m in serious danger of my sister beating me up to take it off me…

And in case you’re wondering, my top score on Bubble Breaker is 1368 points. Top that…

Have you got the X1 Xperia, or had a go on Bubble Breaker? Can you top Technical Markus’s score of 1368? Leave us a comment (and please beat him, so he shuts up about it)!

In an intriguing story sent over to me by our very own Matthew (you know, he of the HTC Touch HD, who I’m currently embroiled in a friendly argument with, over whether my X1 Xperia’s better). An article’s popped up via The Scotsman, about what we can expect from our mobile phones in 2009. In short, we can expect what are being nicknamed ‘magic wand mobile phones’.

At which point, I’d probably better explain what that actually means before everyone starts wearing glasses and shouting “Expelliamus!”

Essentially, Scottish scientists have devised a way for mobile phones to bring useful information instantly to their users, all by the users simply waving their phone at whatever they want info about. Presumably it’s going to be a bit more esoteric than taking a picture of what you want to know about, although that in itself is pretty cool. No, what’s being proposed here is, apparently, more akin to the way you’d use a Wii remote, simply pointing the phone at what you want, and it grabbing info for you. Like the history of a building, or pointing at a bus stop to see if the bus is on time, that kind of thing.

Which is probably why they called it magic wand, since doing that with your mobile phone is some kind of sorcery! They also promise to let you use social networking sites on your mobile phones to find your friends in the real world… although… if you have to use a social networking site to find where your friend is in the real world, when you’re pointing your mobile phone straight at them, you really shouldn’t be using a mobile phone. Or anything with sharp edges…

Yes, I know that’s probably not how that bit works, but let me savour that image, it’s the new year, after all!

So, magic wand phones is what we can expect by the end of the year. If they pull it off, that could be rather interesting to see, although please remember, when vigorously shaking mobile phones at buildings like a Wii remote, remember not to let go, because they tend not to like a brick wall in the face…

Anyone out there know the horror of smashing their phone off a wall (Thankfully I’ve not done it with my X1 Xperia… yet…)? Leave us a comment and share your stories!

I’m back after my week long holiday in Guatemala (translation: stayed at home, went to the pub on New Year’s Eve), so the Mobileshop.com blog is back with a vengeance! First up in 2009 is a story that should be familiar to anyone who used their mobile phones to send Happy New Year texts to their mates.

I did. I sent about 93 in one go, and nearly broke Orange.

Well, according to Engadget Mobile, O2 have announced that it’s been a record-breaking new year, with a staggering 166 million text messages sent in a 24 hour period ending at 7.30am on New Year’s Day. Not bad, when you consider that just includes texts sent from O2 mobile phones, and when you factor in other networks, the number’s going to be much, much bigger.

Note, however, that it doesn’t state exactly what those text messages said. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of people in the country were drinking themselves into happy oblivion, it wouldn’t have been unusual to see people’s mobile phones chirping away, only to deliver texts that said, “hcppy nnew yeeeeeeere. im piqqed.” (Work that one out…)

So, a happy and glorious 2009 to everyone, even though it’s a few days late, because I’ve been on holiday. And to everyone who completely killed Orange’s network when I tried sending my happy new year texts from me new Sony Ericsson X1 (and yes, expect a full review, very soon), don’t all send them at the same time as me next year!

Happy New Year from Mobileshop.com! Start the New Year in style with the awesome Sony Ericsson X1!

Well, it is that time of year again, when we come together to celebrate the real meaning of this festive season. It’s Christmas, and we must always remember the important things, and remember what the real meaning of Christmas is.

And this year, the meaning of Christmas is ‘I FINALLY GOT AN X1 XPERIA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!‘

Oh, alright, it can be about peace and love, and families coming together too. So, as we all head home from work, to go for the big Christmas burn (which involves eating turkey until it comes out your ears, and enough sprouts to make a Force 10 hurricane), everybody here at Mobileshop wants to wish every single one of you out there the bestest, happiest and most funnestest (I may have made that word up…) Christmas in the history of christendom.

So, eat, drink, be merry, enjoy any new mobile phones you’ve got (which I plan to do, and so will me mam and dad, since they’re both getting new’ns), and make it a Chrimbo to remember. I’ll be back in the new year, and I might even stretch to a review of the X1 Xperia, if you’re good boys and girls. In the meantime, peace to all, and enjoy the big day!

THE BESTEST, HAPPIEST, MERRIEST HOHOHO-IN’ CHRISTMAS FROM EVERYONE AT MOBILESHOP.COM!

Well, the rumour’s been going round for a while now, but it’s kicking up once again: according to the Boy Genius Report, there is an outside possibility we might be seeing a new, teeny-tiny version of the iPhone next year. In a not-so-shocking twist (since it’s based on the iPod naming structure), it’s rumoured to be called the iPhone Nano.

But how true are these rumours?

Well, they’ve been knocking about since August, and I’ll be honest, I haven’t reported on them before, because until there was something more concrete, I thought they were about as likely as Liechtenstein founding the first human colony on Mars. Until the new diminutive mobile phone was actually spoke about with some certainty, I would write it off as rubbish.

However, as BGR points out, there’s a new rumour going round, and it’s based on the website of a company called XSKN, who make cases and whatnot for mobile phones. They’ve now got up a product listing for silicon case for the iPhone Nano. Wishful thinking, in case Apple announce one? Well, maybe not, because XSKN have been involved in the history of the iPhone before, specifically with the iPhone 3G. Y’see, before the iPhone 3G was released, a company was promoting a silicon case for the iPhone 3G, which proved to be for the genuine article.

No prizes for guessing that company was, yup, XSKN.

So, they accurately predicted the launch of the iPhone 3G, due to having the physical specs for the mobile phone in their hands, which has to make one wonder whether they know something this time round, as well…

Needless to say, we’ll be watching this with interest (especially Dan), and if/when Apple pushes the iPhone Nano out into the world of mobile phones, we’ll be there to talk about it, but frankly, if we’re talking about innovative, full-touchscreen, keyboard-less mobile phones, I’d still rather have the Blackberry Storm…

Meanwhile, if you want to grab the current wonder-child from Apple, get yourself the iPhone 3G today!

Ah, another day, another luxury mobile phone, that can’t compete, features-wise, with its cheaper siblings! Today it’s the turn of… well, another version of the Nokia 8800 Arte, if I’m honest. Yep, today, thanks to Engadget Mobile, we get our first look at the Nokia 8800 Gold Arte.

Which is categorised and made special by being an 8800 Arte.

That’s gold.

Erm.

Ok, to be fair to it, the 8800 Arte actually does have a reasonably decent spec, coming with a gorgeous 16 million colour screen, a really sharp 3 megapixel camera, and that cool thing where you can just turn your phone over to face down, to stop it ringing. And although it’s one of the most ostentatious mobile phones ever made, I have a bit of a soft spot for the 8800 Arte.

Despite the fact the Nokia 5800, which’ll cost a lot less on release (I’d bet my knicker drawer on it), can out-think it a thousand times over, that is…

However… I have no such soft spot for all the 8800 Arte’s silly siblings, whether they be Sapphire, Carbon, Gold, Diamond, Goose-feathers, Latex, Magma or Adamantium, so expect no such mercy on the Gold Arte. Quite apart from the fact it WILL cost more than my car did, just look at it. Covered in gold and sandwiched between hunks of white leather, front and back, if you use this particular mobile phone, there is no possible physical way you won’t look like a footballer’s wife.

Even if you’re a man…

So, in conclusion, if you really want a luxury mobile phone, get the standard Nokia 8800 Arte, a phone that doesn’t make you look like a badly false-tanned WAG.

If, however, you want a much more powerful mobile phone with similar (but better) features, then sign up for alerts, and we’ll email you when the Nokia 5800 is released.

News from the Boy Genius Report now, about the possible next weapon in Google’s war for mobile phone supremacy. According to rumours, the follow-up to the T-Mobile G1 is going to be… the G2.

Innovative, ground-breaking naming scheme, or what!

Now, like many mobile phones way before they’re officially announced, details are a bit sparse, but what we know, so far, is that the G2, like the T-Mobile G1, will be powered by Google Android, and it’ll have a big ol’ touchscreen. As for the newest rumours, they spell out that the G2 will chuck the QWERTY keyboard to go for a full touchscreen device, in the vein of the HTC Touch HD, which isn’t a bad thing, considering how brilliantly that phone turned out.

Also, the source has stated that, unlike the T-Mobile G1, the G2 will also become available on other networks, although without the name G2, since T-Mobile have got the copyright on that name. And G3. And G4. And probably the letter G, since they trademarked the colour magenta. So, gawd knows what it’ll be called on other networks, but ten million billion quid says if it turns up on O2 it’ll be the XDA-something.

So, it’s sounding like the G2 is going to be much more akin to the iPhone, with a keyboard-less design, sleek body and loads of extra software downloads. And presumably a bespoke virtual keyboard, since there isn’t one built into Android, and, I would argue, mobile phones without any means of entering data are a bit pointless…

Don’t want to wait? Grab the first ever Google Android mobile phone, the innovative T-Mobile G1, today!