Today's Financial Times - not a publication given to printing rumours without some justification - has a story on Apple's plans for the iPhone in Europe. It claims Apple has struck three separate deals with operators, meaning that O2 will exclusively have the iPhone here in the UK, while T-Mobile will have it in Germany, and Orange in France.
Besides making us feel a bit sorry for poor old Vodafone, which appears to have been left out of the iPhone party for the time being, the story also has got us excited. Why? Because it claims Apple will announce all these deals next week at the IFA tech industry show in Germany, bringing the actual launch of the iPhone here closer.
But we're steeling our wallets for a shock. The FT also claims that Apple isn't letting its operator partners subsidise the price of the iPhone. As we calculated the other day, this could mean shelling out £399 for an 8GB iPhone.
(via FT.com)
Nokia announced the 6555 phone yesterday, and despite it being a super-stylish 3G clamshell, much of the coverage has focused on... its analogue clock. Yes, there's a proper traditional clock beaming out from the phone's external screen, rather than the digital time display you'd expect.
We think it's part of a wider trend that, if it didn't conjure up horrendous memories of numerous Tory politicians bonking their secretaries, we'd call 'Back To Basics'. In short: phones have got way complex in recent years, and so it's only logical that a design trend has sprung up opting for the more retro approach.
Continue reading "Nokia 6555's analogue clock shows why old-skool design is a hit on mobiles" »
Have you ever experienced the phenomenon known as 'bill shock'? It's what happens when you get your mobile bill at the end of the month, and it's much more than you expected - either because you've overstepped your texting/talking limit, have used too much data, or spent too long calling home from that beach holiday.
Well, spare a thought for a man called Pierre, who took his US iPhone on holiday with him to Europe, and racked up a $4,190.76 bill, mainly for data roaming fees. That's got to be a nasty surprise, although he did manage to talk his operator into retroactively putting him on the 20MB-per-month international data plan, which cut the bill to a more manageable $900.
We wonder what Pierre was thinking when he went online with his iPhone, and why he didn't try to find Wi-Fi hotspots instead.
Continue reading "The $4,190.76 iPhone bill that proves Wi-Fi roaming is the future" »
Despite the operators' tempting contracts with oodles of free minutes and texts, there's still a lot of Brits who prefer the no-strings approach of a pay-as-you-go mobile. And while this can mean you pay through the nose for a top-spec handset (earlier on we explained how Nokia sells its N95 SIM-free for £499), it doesn't have to be an expensive business.
We've rounded up five prepay phones that'll cost you under £70 in the shops, but will still give you a decent performance and more cutting-edge features than you'd think.
1. Nokia 5300 (pictured left). This compact slider handset might not be 3G, but it's been designed to work well as a music phone, with dedicated keys and up to a 2GB memory card to store your tunes. It's well-rounded, with definite appeal to younger users. Read a review
If you've ever been to the Apple Store on Regent Street, you'll know it's a gleaming monument to all things Apple, with visitors dribbling over the latest iPods and Mac computers. It's as much about showing off cool new products as it is about actually selling them. And now Nokia's getting in on the act with its own Regent Street store, which was announced today.
On one level, it's a sensible move - a chance for Nokia to showcase its latest phones away from the clutter of rival firms' handsets that you'd find in, say, Carphone Warehouse. Of course, if you're a punter looking to buy a new phone, you might want to be able to compare Nokia's phones with the competition, so in that case the Nokia Store won't be for you.
But what we're wondering is where the operators fit in here, if at all...
Continue reading "Where will mobile operators fit into Nokia's new London store?" »
Last week, the main Mobile Choice site reviewed the new Samsung G600 mobile (pictured), which is the latest five-megapixel cameraphone to go on sale, following the recent LG KG920 and Nokia N95, with the Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot coming soon.
These are all relatively expensive handsets, of course, although the price comes down if you get them on a contract. But we think it's the start of a slippery decline for low-end digital cameras. Once a five-megapixel phone is affordable, why would you want a digital camera offering the same or less resolution?
Note, we're not saying phones will kill all digital cameras. If you're into your snapping, a ten-megapixel digital camera still vastly outperforms phones - not just on resolution, but on all the other photography features too. But in terms of a camera that you carry around with you for quick snaps, phones are already winning the war.
The movie industry is already paranoid about piracy, with good reason judging by the ease with which you can download brand new films if you know your way around peer-to-peer file-sharing technology. We always imagined the original pirates were sitting in cinemas with hidden camcorders.
That could be changing. A 21-year-old Australian has been arrested after uploading a pirated copy of The Simpsons Movie, shot using his mobile phone. According to the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, he's not the only pirate switching DVcams for mobile handsets either.
It's interesting that just as more powerful phones are enabling companies like Nokia to forge new partnerships with Hollywood studios, so they're also opening up more opportunity for piracy. Although we have to say, we'd rather wait for the DVD than watch a pixelly mobile-shot version of most films.
(via Engadget Mobile)
