July 2, 2008
Congratulations to Theresa Champ from Kent who has won a Canon photo printer from entering our mobile phone review prize draw simply by sending us in a short review of her Samsung Soul. Well done!
Thank you to everyone who has sent us in a review on their mobile phone. If you would like to enter in the next prize draw in September for the opportunity to win a free Canon photo printer then just send us a review of your phone. Let us know what you think of its look, design, features, performance and its good and bad points. Don’t forget to leave your name, email, and location so that we can contact you if you are successful in the draw.
Good luck everyone!
Read more here:
Mobile phone review prize draw winner
June 3, 2008
Mobile Web browsing has come a long way since the early days of WAP and BT’s silver surfer ads. Back then, web browsing on your mobile phone meant being restricted to text only sites that were poorly laid out and hard to navigate (Ed: apart from wap.mobiles.co.uk obviously!) The difference today is marked. Nowadays the average mobile phone will offer a colour screen, very often with a QVGA resolution. And if your handset doesn’t have an excellent default browser, such as the browser found on NSeries handsets, then you can use the next best option, the fantastic Opera Mini browser. Opera Mini is so good that even if you do have a good default browser it is worth having as an alternative solution.
In a future blog post I’ll talk about how good or bad different handsets are for the mobile web so if you have an opinion on your own mobile experience then please do leave some feedback on our mobile phone reviews page.
The mobile websites available today are a step above what used to be available, so here, in no particular order, is a list of 10 of my favourite sites:
Yahoo
Yahoo is one of the original websites and to be fair was always one of the best. For ages the goal of many mobile users was to have access to Instant messaging on their phones. Thing is, most people used MSN messenger, which is a shame because if they used Yahoo they could have had access to Yahoo Messenger on their mobiles. Also available via the Yahoo website is access to your Yahoo Mail. Two of the most wanted mobile services ever since the idea of the ‘mobile internet’ was pushed, and Yahoo had it from the start. The new Yahoo mobile site is very slick and well laid out, easy to navigate and find what you are looking for. Point your phone’s browser to uk.m.yahoo.com/ for Yahoo Mobile.
BBC
The BBC is always there or there abouts with new technology. They have one of the best websites available for news and resource, and their mobile website is none too shabby either. It has recently been given a facelift, reflecting the improved functionality of web browsing on a phone. Easy to use and search, the BBC mobile website comes highly recommended, for keeping up to date with the latest news to finding out the latest score. BBC mobile can be found at bbc.co.uk/mobile.
Facebook
It’s the mobile social network that everyone seems to use. Sure, there are others, but Facebook appears to be the one that everyone has an account on by default. As expected, the site is simple to use and well designed. Mobile Facebook gives access to the most popular features, such as the ever annoying poke and wall messages, plus the option to browse through photos and profile details of all your friends. In a recent article, Vodafone said that Facebook is the most visited mobile site by their subscribers. For Facebook mobile go to m.facebook.com.
Weather.com
If the English didn’t have the weather to talk about, conversation levels would drop by 50%, at least. With Mobile Weather.com you can ensure that you are up to date with the latest information on the most important topic of the day. As well as giving forecasts for your local area, you can also search out weather reports for destinations around the world, ideal for research before you head off on holiday, meaning you don’t need to take that sweater, just in case. Weather.com mobile can be found at wap.weather.co.uk.
Google
Google offer a range of very useful services and most of these have been ported successfully to the mobile site too. The trademark design of the Google website, with the minimalist design and plain white background works well on a mobile phone, meaning the page loads quickly and is easy to view in most situations. From the main Google mobile page you can access Web Search, Gmail, even Google maps. Google’s main mobile portal is m.google.com
Google Reader
I’ve kept this separate from the main Google detail, because I think it deserves a mention in its own right. Google reader is simply a news reader, that collects information from various news services and presents them in a simple easy to navigate way. As easy to view on mobile as it is on PC, Google Reader offers probably the best method of keeping up to date with your favourite news items. For Google Reader go to www.google.com/reader/m.
Twitter
Social networking is the buzz of the moment on the net, and we have already looked at Facebook. Twitter is a popular site for mobile users, mainly because users can send updates on their current ’status’ via SMS. And that is pretty much what you do with Twitter. You can choose to follow people and every time they update their status you will see this reflected in your main feed. Simple, for sure, but very effective. Twitter mobile can be found at m.twitter.com.
Amazon
I like to buy books. I also like a good bargain. These two details are matched together perfectly with the Amazon mobile site. When I go book shopping, very often I am happy to pay the shop price for the advantage of being able to take the book home with me there and then. Sometimes, though, if I think an item is overpriced all I need to do is take my phone to Amazon and type in the ISBN into the search box to see if that item is being sold at a cheaper price. For a couple of pounds it probably isn’t worth the wait, and when you add in postage the saving is negligible. There have been occasions though when I have found books at almost a 50% price discount to what is being charged in the shop, and that is a saving definitely worth having. To check the best book deals go to m.amazon.com.
CNN
When you are looking for news coverage, it is very hard to get past the spin and into the meat of the real story. CNN have developed a reputation for delivering fast, accurate news. The site has a slight bias towards American news but that can be useful for finding out what is going on with our American cousins across the water. Balanced out between the BBC and CNN most major news stories tend to be covered. Also useful for keeping up to date with the latest American sports news. The mobile URL for CNN is m.cnn.com.
MSN
Microsoft never really took to the mobile web scene in the early years. Users of one of the most popular free email services of the time, Hotmail, were crying out for mobile access to their email but it was slow in coming. The MSN mobile site now links to Hotmail, and also offers access to messenger plus gives a useful run down on the latest news stories. In the mobile arena at least, Yahoo have always been a step or three ahead of MSN. For MSN on your phone go to m.msn.com.
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The Best of the Mobile Web
May 27, 2008
The smooth Nokia 6600 Fold opens with one touch of a button, to reveal a bright clear 16 million colour QVGA display. The seamless design of the 6600 Fold has the signature ’smooth back’ look when open and remains subtle and compact when closed.
The high gloss surface of the handset springs to life when tapped twice to wake up the outer display, revealing the time, incoming messages and missed calls. A double tap on the phone also snoozes the alarm, silences alerts and rejects calls.
The Nokia 6600 is a 3G mobile and includes a 2.0 megapixel camera with double LED flash. This feature allows the LED light to be used when video recording in low light. Another feature of the 6600 is the built in music player. The player supports multiple audio formats, including MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA. With support for Bluetooth 2.0 you will be able to listen to your music on the move, without wires, using a stereo Bluetooth headset. There is also an FM stereo radio for those times when your music collection is just not enough.
The 6600 Fold supports Nokia Maps, which if used in conjunction with a GPS Bluetooth dongle turns your handset into a mobile Sat Nav device. This feature packed phone from Nokia covers all the main areas you want in a mobile phone; mobile navigation, mobile photography and mobile music.
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Nokia 6600 Fold smooth compact clamshell phone
May 14, 2008
Almost all mobile phones sold these days are combined with a digital camera. The average standard generally include at least a 2.0 megapixel camera, although it is important to note that a high megapixel count doesn’t always mean a better photo. The Sony Ericsson W810i only had a 2.0 megapixel camera yet it still holds its own against many current mobile phones for picture quality.
Recently the Nokia N82 was awarded Best Mobile Imaging Device for 2008, from TIPA, the European Press Association. This provoked a conversation in the office about the relevance of digital cameras in mobile phones, how this affects the digital camera market, the various claims of quality pushed forward by the manufacturers and ultimately which is the best camera phone.
I own the Nokia N82, so I was confident with the recent award to make the claim that my N82 could take a better quality picture than a phone anyone else had. My ‘challenge’ was taken up by my colleague, Richard, who owns a Sony Ericsson K850i and Dan, who owns a Nokia N93. Despite the age of the N93 is still has a high quality camera, 3.2 megapixel, Carl Zeiss Optics and 3 x Optical zoom. Another colleague, Ben, suggested we compare the three to a stand alone digital camera. Ben owns the Samsung S850.
When it comes to using a mobile phone as a camera, very rarely do people change the settings from those that are set as standard. So for this test I reset all the cameras to standard mode and used without flash. Just a simple ‘point n shoot’ test. Take a look at the results below; let me know what you think in the comments.
Nokia N82
Sony Ericsson K850i
Nokia N93
Samsung S850M
More:
Best Camera Phone - The Mobile Shootout
May 14, 2008
Almost all mobile phones sold these days are combined with a digital camera. The average standard generally include at least a 2.0 megapixel camera, although it is important to note that a high megapixel count doesn’t always mean a better photo. The Sony Ericsson W810i only had a 2.0 megapixel camera yet it still holds its own against many current mobile phones for picture quality.
Recently the Nokia N82 was awarded Best Mobile Imaging Device for 2008, from TIPA, the European Press Association. This provoked a conversation in the office about the relevance of digital cameras in mobile phones, how this affects the digital camera market, the various claims of quality pushed forward by the manufacturers and ultimately which is the best camera phone.
I own the Nokia N82, so I was confident with the recent award to make the claim that my N82 could take a better quality picture than a phone anyone else had. My ‘challenge’ was taken up by my colleague, Richard, who owns a Sony Ericsson K850i and Dan, who owns a Nokia N93. Despite the age of the N93 is still has a high quality camera, 3.2 megapixel, Carl Zeiss Optics and 3 x Optical zoom. Another colleague, Ben, suggested we compare the three to a stand alone digital camera. Ben owns the Samsung S850.
When it comes to using a mobile phone as a camera, very rarely do people change the settings from those that are set as standard. So for this test I reset all the cameras to standard mode and used without flash. Just a simple ‘point n shoot’ test. Take a look at the results below; let me know what you think in the comments.
Nokia N82
Sony Ericsson K850i
Nokia N93
Samsung S850M
Credit:
Best Camera Phone - The Mobile Shootout
