Shout About Mobiles

Before the release of the HD2, I was lucky enough to get a play on it, and I loved it! You could actually see the effect that the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor had on making Windows mobile 6.5 run like it should do. Everything on it ran smoothly, but it made me feel very annoyed because I had only recently got the Touch Diamond 2. GRR! Although my Diamond 2 looked nicer (in my eyes anyhow), the HD2 had the power that just made the OS run effortlessly, plus it had the better specs to back it up and would make the recently announced WM7 run like a dream.

So, you HD2 users where happy, smugly sat waiting for their new OS to be officially announced and made available for them to enjoy and show off.

It seems with every new announcement about Windows Mobile 7, that this would still be the case until, as it turned out, that the HD2 had too many hardware buttons to make it work! Apparently, 5 buttons is just too many, and Microsoft is aiming at 3 buttons and no more it seems.

All the rumours before the announcement were stating that WM7 phones would need to have a home key, a Windows key, a back key, plus the call and end call keys. However, this just shows how you can’t put too much faith into rumours - they are just rumours after all.

Looking at some of the Windows Mobile 7 phones that have just been announced, they do just have the home, Windows and back keys, so it shouldn’t be that hard to attach the call functions from the screen to the hardware buttons on the device.

However I’m sure that certain Windows fans out there will hack the WM7 OS to make it work on the HD2 (this is not an encouragement to you lot, just an understanding that it will probably happen). And it’s just not the same to have a hacked version as it is to have the official product.

Alongside the TV phenomenon of HD, it seems that phones are now desperately trying to catch up with the HD revolution - at long last!

There seems to be a good collection of phones now that enjoy the ability to record in loving 720P recording. Strangely, after so long of only allowing the worst possible video ability, it seems that

Sony Ericsson are really trying to push this feature; the Satio has an update to unlock it on the device and the newly released Vivaz, having the service straight out of its shiny box.

Although we have had phones for a while now that can display and play HD films, it is good to see the video camcorders actually catching up. It’s good to see this is now an option for avid fans, so that those who want to take memories of whatever they are doing (from sporting moments or their mates successfully pulling off great tricks - or in the case of my friends, trying and failing!), they can.

The only question now is how long before we see it pushed up to the 1080i that all those graphic lovers are coveting so much.

After a spate of sleep and tiny phones a few years ago, phones then got big and bulky again as manufacturers tried to pack it with feature after feature. But it now looks like Phone Style has come full circle, as we seem to have a wave of new “mini phones” making their way onto the market.

The release of the N97 Mini pretty much killed off the N97 straight after its launch, and now Sony Ericsson are releasing Mini versions for its X10 and its X10 Pro, we can probably expect a similar effect on this range. So it seems that phones are going to start heading back down towards the Samsung Ultra range…

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Samsung X820, the fact that I had to actually put my hand into my pocket to check the phone was still there, rather than just patting my pockets, did get annoying after a while. The trend seems to be that manufactures are making large phones, and then just when people start to buy them, its little brother comes out from the gym having burnt off lots of millimetres!

But it will be interesting to see what people find more important: that all important screen size (if you see how little space you get after the keyboard pops up on your touch screen phone, you will understand why HTC have put a 4inch screen on their HD2), or the sleek style a small phone?

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

I find it amusing that every Windows fan (I include myself in this group by the way!) will have (probably) teased an iPhone fan at some point, because of the iPhone’s lack of multitasking (this was the one feature that Windows had the upper hand with when comparing products to Apple) – but it now seems that we Window users don’t even have that to boast about.

Although Windows may have been ugly and stylus based, it worked as a business phone, as it could do everything a business phone needed to do. It could even do a lot of it at the same time, making working ‘from your phone’ much easier.

However, it now seems that, with the release of Windows 7, we have to hold our heads in shame as Microsoft is blatantly following in Apple’s footsteps by reducing the options of what the phone can actually do.

BOO!

There are rumours that Windows updates will be unleashed later down the line, once they know that the software is stable enough to cope with what is hoped for the new OS, but what good is a rumour when choosing your next phone? Contracts these days last longer than some marriages, so I want to make sure I always get a good one, that will last!

When you look at the specs of what the OS needs as a minimum to run (1 GHz processor, 512mb ram), and think that this is for NONE multitasking usage, you’ve got to be asking yourself how much processing power will it need to run two programs at the same time?

I can see a future with people with burnt ears from having to use their phones to make calls…

I am an avid MMS user - whether it is a picture to remind a mate of their shenanigans the morning after a night before, or as a way to get someone’s opinion of a new top I am thinking of buying - I find MMS to be an important feature in a phone of mine.

However, I can’t help to worry that this ace little  feature is slowly being taken out.

Over the last couple of years we have seen the networks slowly remove MMS from their text

bundles, with the promise new mms bundles to replace them later on - yet we still haven’t seen these materialise, and it is certainly not well advertised any more.

It is true that Vodafone offer a bundle of 50 MMS, however stores don’t seem to know this exists, and I had to find out through their eFourm service (very helpful) to get the information.

At the moment, the release of the new OS platform phones (mac osx, web

os, maemo), means that MMS is becoming a thing of the past. All of them are coming out with no default mms service as a standard feature, so it seems that we are being pushed more and more towards email as a way of sharing, rather than MMS.

Mobile phones are definitely a big part of our life now, there’s no denying it. In fact, I don’t’ think I know anyone over the age of about 10 who doesn’t have a mobile phone now. I got my first mobile phone when I was 15 (oh dear me, that was 10 years ago!) and that was when everyone just started to get them. It was such a novelty at that point to even get a text message from someone who also had a phone, now you can do everything imaginable on a mobile phone. Advertising on mobile phones has also developed to mass texting to random people. Companies can search for phones that have their Bluetooth enabled and send out messages if you are in a specific area. I have had messages advertising offers on clothes from shops I have been passing, Free Bingo offers, special deals in restaurants, adverts for club nights or even car insurance quotes! It’s a very useful tool for reaching a mass and possibly relevant audience and something I never would have expected all those years ago when I got my Motorola brick! Has anyone else had any strange texts from random companies and have you acted on their recommendations?

I’m still getting used to my G2. I got it to use the internet on more, and am finding that I don’t use it anywhere near as often as I thought I might. But, it’s there, so I can use it, (when I learn how to!).

But my texting prowess is finally on the up! I wasn’t getting on to well with the touch screen keypad, but it is finally getting there. I’ve set it so that the phone vibrates when I hit a key, so this means I know when I’ve missed, and don’t end up writing the wrong words. I’m nearly back up to my normal texting numbers too!

And I have even found a new site where I can get Free Text every month. You get a 6 day FREE trial, and then you do have to sign up. But it’s still really cheap. I use it quite often as it also has a great range of tones and games.

And tarting up my new phone is the key to making me keep it! However, I think that my eye is wandering already… Only had the G2 3 months and I still miss my trusty Sony Ericsons. I thought I would be over them by now, but nope, I still find myself checking out the new models every now and then.

My current phone is the HTC Magic (a.k.a. the G2). I love it! (Despite some teething problems with my thumbs not making the “space” button work, but I got around that soon enough!) It can do everything I need, although I do miss bluetooth for transferring pictures, but hey ho.

We’ve also had the internet put to excellent use - my friend managed to mess up his internet connection at home, and he needed to find some companies that does CD Mastering for a uni project (he’s doing a music management degree, and he needed to source companies that could put his “tunes” onto CDs, and make them sound gooooood!).

Well, without his home internet, we “Googled” until we found enough companies that offered this service, and he got his project done and finished.

The G2 made things very simple – nice QWERTY keyboard, speedy connections (mainly down to the good O2 reception I had at the time!), and fast loading browser. Emailing the sites over to his email account meant he could access them all when he got into uni the next morning, and get the examples put into his project work properly.

The G2 sprang to the rescue, and saved my mate from having to waffle through excuses about why he hadn’t got it done in time.

Whilst at work today, I have had about 4 different conversations with the opening line “my contact is up for renewal and I need a new phone, what should I get?”.

I always ask, what do you want it to do - and 3 times out of today’s 4, they have said, “exactly what my old one does”.

ARGH!!!!

“Why change the phone if it still does what you need it to?” I ask. “Erm…” they say.

I like shiney new things, and a phone is one of the coolest new toys you can have, but why try to fix what is not broke??

Remeber the early days of mobile phones, when the “upgrades” included which handset had more options for changable covers?! Tigger or cars or patterns or naked ladies - whatever cover you could get decided what phone you chose.

And I quite liked that choice. I don’t think there is a new phone on the market you can customise (case wise) these days.

But the internal customisation seems limitless! I love the little spirit level on the iPod - I don’t need it in any way, shape or form, but it’s nifty.

But my inner chav sometimes says I should get a phone that I can put a Tigger case on…

With the release of the Toshiba TG01 this month in the UK, we will be subjected to the power of the Snapdragon hidden within its 10mm thin casing.
A snapdragon?
Yes, it’s the 1 GHz processer that rages within the three new super phones that Toshiba are releasing shortly.

This is big and new and scary - to think that my little netbook that I am typing this up on only has a 1.1ghz processor…. and the previous Smartphone’s all have around 500mhz or less with the odd one or two powerhouses storming around with a mere 600mhz… WOW!

We have to ask, why?

I know I’m not the biggest fan of Windows Mobile but I have to say I have never moaned about how slow to load they are. So why make it faster?
True, as a Smartphone the speed in which to turn one on is never great, but the general usage has never made me think, “hmm, could do with a good GHz of processor in here to make it work like a dream”. Don’t get me wrong, as soon as I get to have a play on the TG01 or any of its brothers, I will be loading as many applications as I can to see what it can take before it gives up the ghost, but I don’t think it would be needed too much in a general day to day use.