Mobile Choice Blog

Samsung launches another new fashion phone

There must be something in the water at Samsung HQ - or, alternatively, some prankster has switched their magazine subscriptions so they're getting Vogue instead of Mobile Choice. Perish the thought! Why? Because Samsung has only gone and created another fashion phone.

This time, it's Vittorio & Lucchino that's responsible for the phone's styling. We assume they're considered trendy by those in the know, but we're a bit too scruffy to know for sure. We can say that the phone itself looks very nice indeed, and is based on Samsung's Z240 clamshell handset.

Here's the bad news, fashionistas. You can only get one in Spain on the Orange network. If that hasn't put you off, the phone's expected to cost a bargain 59 Euros (about £41).

(via Unwired View)

Germans have their hands on the iPhone, but us Brits have to wait

The iPhone went on sale in Germany this morning, resulting in thousands of happy purchasers waving their handsets in glee. Meanwhile, us Brits have to wait until 6.02pm tonight, just because... well, actually, we're at a loss to explain why we have to wait until the evening.

After all, it could have been 6.02am and there'd still have been people queuing around the block. Meanwhile, Engadget Mobile - the source of that Happy Germans photo - also reports that the latest edition of the iPhone's firmware has already been hacked, which in theory means people buying the iPhone today might be able to get it to work with non-O2 SIM cards.

We hasten to add, you shouldn't be trying to 'jailbreak' your iPhone unless you know what you're doing, as messing it up can leave your iPhone as a useless hunk of junk. But we're sure that won't stop plenty of Brits from trying as soon as they get home tonight...

(via Engadget Mobile)

Five ways to get music on your mobile

It's a big week for mobile music, with the iPhone going on sale tomorrow, and some big announcements already from Sony Ericsson and Nokia. But what if you're a beginner to mobile music, wondering how to get songs onto your phone? Here's a quick guide to some starting points.

1. Sideload your own tunes
Most music-capable handsets now come with USB cables to connect to your computer, and software to make it easy to transfer songs onto the phones. Assuming your music collection is in a format that's playable by your phone (the three most common are MP3, WMA and AAC), you can just transfer songs over, and they'll be there waiting for you when you fire up your music application on the phone.

Nokia and Vodafone put differences aside for Ovi deal

Recently, Nokia announced its launch of 'Ovi', a suite of mobile services that would include music (the Nokia Music Store), games (the new N-Gage) and mapping/navigation. It was presented as a big change of strategy for the company, moving away from its hardware-focused roots.

However, some operators reacted with suspicion, worrying that Nokia was moving too much onto their turf in trying to provide services.

However, it seems Nokia is winning them round. At least, it's signed a deal with Vodafone to launch its Ovi-capable handsets in 2008, with much talk of how Ovi will be integrated with Vodafone's own games and music services on the Vodafone Live portal.

Adopt a Battersea dog on your mobile with DOGMOB

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home does hugely important work with stray and unwanted animals, and now it's trying a new money-raising strategy: a mobile portal called DOGMOB. The idea is that you pay to download mobile content by 'adopting' one of the home's dogs.

Don't worry, this doesn't involve a mutt actually being delivered to your house - the idea is more to raise awareness of the dogs that are looking for real-life adoption, but also to generate cash from the mobile content sales.

So, you choose a dog from the website, and text its name to 80022 to get sent a WAP link, which costs £3, but provides four downloads: an animated screensaver, wallpaper certificate, 'thank you' video, and a barking ringtone. It's well worth a go, if you're a dog lover. And don't worry feline-fanciers - CATMOB is apparently coming soon for moggies...

DOGMOB website 

Kylie Minogue launches her own social network

Feeling lucky, lucky, lucky? Well, you should join Kylie's new social network then. It's called KylieKonnect, and it's been created for the star by a company called New Visions Mobile. As you might guess from their name, mobile is an important element in the site.

Fans will be able to register, then create a profile and blog or upload photos from their mobile phones. We assume they have to be Kylie-related, so get set for a splurge of hotpants shots. Maybe. Kylie herself will maintain a profile on the site, which will be regularly updated with news.

Check it out via the link below, although we wonder if people have time to set up a profile on a new social network, no matter how big a fan they are of La Minogue.

KylieKonnect website

Sorry folks, no Google Gphone... Not yet, anyway

For the last few months, there's been rampant speculation that Google was about to announce its own mobile handset: the Gphone. However, yesterday Google set those rumours to rest (sort of) by announcing instead a new mobile platform codenamed Android, which it says will make it easier for developers to create mobile applications that run across a range of handsets.

Alongside this, there's a new organisation called the Open Handset Alliance, which will produce phones and services based on Android. Members include Google (obviously), as well as HTC, Samsung, LG, Motorola and T-Mobile, with 34 members in all. Notable absentees include Apple, Nokia, Palm, Vodafone, Yahoo and Microsoft.

The first handsets based on Android should go on sale next year. So does this mean the end of the Gphone rumours? Not quite. It's still possible that Google may launch its own mobile phone based on Android, alongside all the others coming out of the Open Handset Alliance members. So watch this space.

Open Handset Alliance website
 

UK iPhone going on sale at 6.02pm this Friday

It's iPhone launch week here in the UK, with O2 and Carphone Warehouse stores around the country gearing up for a rush of customrs on Friday. With that in mind, Apple and O2 have just announced final details of the handset's launch, including the news that it will go on sale at 6.02pm this Friday (O2, geddit?) at more than 1,300 stores around the UK.

O2 says it has hired and trained hundreds of iPhone specialists who'll be in-store showing people how to use the device, while Apple will be holding seminars in its own Apple Stores around the country. As we've reported before, the phone itself will cost you £269 on the day, and you'll have to sign up to an 18-month contract for at least £35 a month.

However, the good news is that O2 has binned its 'fair usage' cap, so unlimited data really will be unlimited. Well, as long as you're not using it as a data modem for your laptop, that is.

Nokia N-Gage delayed until December

In case you're puzzled, we're talking about the NEW N-Gage, which is now a games platform rather than a specific handset - in other words, you'll be able to play N-Gage games on a range of Nokia's Nseries handsets. It was due to launch in November, but the company has just announced that it's being delayed until next month.

"N-Gage is coming in December," said Nokia's Kari Tuutti. "Software testing is taking a bit more time than what we had expected. We are talking about a couple of weeks." The positive reading of the news is that Nokia is taking its time to ensure the all-new N-Gage is just right, rather than rushing it out. The negative reading is, well, it's not exactly a promising start.

We'll be covering the new N-Gage platform more on here, as it gets closer to launch, so stay tuned.

(via Reuters)

Yikes! Mobile phones are becoming surveillance cameras

Things are getting a bit Big Brother in the mobile world (and we DON'T mean the TV show). Scientists at the Institute for Pervasive Computing in Zurich have been working on a system that turns Nokia 6630 handsets into surveillance cameras capable of communicating with each other to track a passer-by.

Admittedly, they're all mounted on the ceiling of a corridor, which you'd probably notice if you walked down it (unless you're used to seeing phones looking at you from the ceiling). They run an application called Facet, which uses Bluetooth to transmit data between the phones, enabling them to track a pedestrian.

But why do this with phones, when there are perfectly good security camera systems out there? It might be cheaper, perhaps, for companies who can't afford them but still want to pretend they're running a high-security compound. Perhaps.

(via Reiter's Camera Phone Report)