Omio News Blog

Omio Round Up: The Best Touch Screen Phones!

With the industry moving from megapixels to tactile touch screens as the mobile phone ‘must-have’, we’ve decided to compile a list of the five best handsets for getting into the world of button free telephony.

This list covers everything from entry level to the slickest finger-swiping phones, with something there for everyone to step their mobile game up to the next level!

LG Arena KM900

The LG Arena KM900 manages to use the combination of good looks and a great user interface to make for a great first touch screen handset. Much has been made of the new interface that LG has dubbed ‘S-Class,’ and definitely brings a very novel way to navigate the handset.

A 3-dimensional cube revolves to provide access to four different screens – contacts, widgets, shortcuts and a customizable home page. A single swipe takes users from one ‘side’ to the next, giving a quick and visually arresting way to manoeuvre around the device.

Whilst gimmicky at first, the interface soon proves indispensable but LG does also caters for newcomers by offering a simpler menu for those put off by the futuristic styling of S-Class.

Specifications are strong throughout, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with digital zoom, GPS and 8GB of internal memory rounding out a feature set driven by the 3” TFT touchscreen.

View pay monthly and prepay LG Arena deals on Omio.

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Samsung Tocco Lite

The Samsung Tocco Lite continues the immensely successful Tocco range with a cheap and cheerful handset that brings touch screen joy, without the price tag.

The Tocco Lite might ‘only’ be a 2G handset, but don’t let that put you off.

The 3” display offers the same TouchWiz user interface spotted on higher end devices, and with a thin frame as well as a 3.15 megapixel camera with face and smile detection, the Tocco Lite punches above its weight in terms of both looks and specs.

The Tocco Lite has everything that you need from a next generation mobile including music and movie playback for most formats, a document viewer, stereo FM radio and downloadable games.

Cute touches like the gesture lock which allows you to open applications while unlocking your device just by drawing a letter on the screen and handy widgets more than make up for concessions like the lack of 3G connectivity on the Samsung Tocco Lite, an impressive phone at a cheap price.

View pay monthly and prepay Samsung Tocco Lite S5230 deals on Omio.

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HTC Touch Diamond 2

Those looking for a more refined touch experience need look no further than the HTC Touch Diamond 2, an evolution in Windows Mobile-powered devices.

The iconic design of the original HTC Touch Diamond has been tempered slightly, resulting in a phone that is familiar and compact to hold, yet improves in many areas. The 3.2” VGA display is significantly larger, and combined with a touch sensitive zoom bar below the screen, the Diamond 2 makes web browsing a joy.

The zoom bar can also be used to navigate web pages, texts and photos, whilst the TouchFLO 3D interface makes navigating the handset simple yet effective. TouchFLO attempts to make the Windows mobile experience far more enjoyable, and the graphical flourishes as well as menu shortcuts make the Touch Diamond 2 easier to use than most devices lumbered with the ‘smartphone’ name.

A pricier and more technical handset than some in this list, the Touch Diamond 2 is a fully fledged multimedia device with 3G connectivity, built-in GPS and a 5 megapixel camera beefing up a rich feature set.

With the ability to upgrade to the new version of Windows Mobile when it comes out, the Touch Diamond 2 is a great bit of mobile kit that will remain future-proof for a long time to come.

View pay monthly and SIM-free HTC Touch Diamond 2 deals on Omio.

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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is the epitome of cool by committee. With a plectrum for a stylus, endorsement from today’s fashionable young things and an eagerly awaited touch design, the 5800 was bound to be a hit.

A music phone at heart, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic ticks all the specs boxes with 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi support, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a hefty 3.2” high resolution touch display. Your music selection is handled by an 8GB memory card (included in the package), and a 3.5mm audio jack means that your favourite headphones can be plugged in with little trouble.

Despite the novel form factor and touch input, it is business as usual for anyone familiar with a Nokia device, the icons and menus will be entirely familiar for those used to any phone from the Finnish manufacturer in the last five years. Which is everyone.

Despite this, the funky combination of old and new has made the Nokia 5800 hugely popular as a first mobile phone without (as many) buttons.

View pay monthly, pre-pay and SIM-free Nokia 5800 XpressMusic deals on Omio.

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Apple iPhone 3GS

No touch screen mobile phone comparison would be complete without this game changing behemoth!

Getting the design so right first time has given Apple the ability to reiterate rather than revolutionize, and the iPhone 3GS is the second update to the groundbreaking formula.

Expanding on the iconic device with a 3 megapixel camera, video recording, voice controls and up to 32GB of storage, the Apple iPhone 3GS is able to do it all, faster.

The ‘S’ on this new model’s chest stands for ‘speed,’ and in terms of loading applications, web pages and general handset use, the iPhone 3GS trounces its forebears.

Little else has been changed, but the addition of an internal compass has enabled the device to provide full turn-by-turn GPS (with the help of a forthcoming application).

All this is moot – as iPhone owners know – the hook is the brilliant interface. The 3.5” touch screen, the multi-touch input methods, the ambient light sensor and menus created with touch in mind have all been around since the first iteration and are still the reason that people have flocked to the device in droves.

Ahead of the curve in so many ways (yet glaringly behind in others), the iPhone approaches mobiles from such a different perspective, and is largely why it is such a revelation to use. The browsing on Safari may lack Flash (for now), but is arguably the smoothest, fastest and most enjoyable web experience on a phone, bar none.

Use an iPhone and your current mobile -  touch screen or otherwise – will feel archaic in comparison. The only thing that will stop you tearing into your local O2 store and snapping one up will be the exorbitant price.

It is indeed one of the best phones around, if you can justify the price…

View Apple iPhone 3GS deals on Omio.

Omio Round Up: The Best Bluetooth Headsets

Bluetooth headsets are great, no doubt. Allowing easy hands-free calls, wirelessly, whilst maintaining access to much of your phone’s functionality is brilliant, making a Bluetooth device a must-have accessory for those always on the move.

So why is it that they have had such a bad reputation?

Are they too difficult to set up, with pairing and handset compatibility issues resulting in many a wasted afternoon and acute frustration? Is it the quality of the early devices, making it sound as though people are speaking through a tin can telephone in a wind tunnel, gargling muesli?

Or is it just because people feel a bit like a twerp wearing them?

Whatever it is that has made them so uncool, many of the big headset makers have taken great pains to shift away from this negaitve press. With the highest spec materials, amazing call quality and sporting designs that would make an architect weep in wonder, these three headsets scream ‘business-chic’ as opposed to ‘boy band reject’.

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Aliph Jawbone Prime – £89.99

The first brand to position the Bluetooth headset as a luxury item and succeed, the Jawbone series of headsets offered exceptional call quality, a gorgeous design and a nice line in noise reduction.

The Prime continues this lineage effectively with an elegant and compact form factor, subtly placed buttons, wind-cancelling technology and a hefty price tag.

The Jawbone derives its name from the unique way that it picks up what you are saying, resting gingerly on the face and using sensors to detect movement in the jaw.
The Prime’s ‘NoiseAssassin’ technology uses this jaw vibration to sense when you are talking and filters out external noise automatically.

In addition, the volume of the caller on the other end is raised and lowered in
line with surrounding noise, picked up by a built-in external microphone.

Actually pairing the device is simple, holding down the ‘talk’ and volume buttons on the side for a couple of seconds is enough to alert any handset to the Jawbone Prime’s presence, and syncing is quick. An LED light gives a visual indication of what is going on.

In terms of comfort, the Prime comes with four different sizes of ear loops, as well as differently sized ear buds for the perfect fit. The loops aren’t required as the Prime nestles pretty well without them, but it adds an extra level of comfort. When on your head, the Prime barely reaches past the sideburns, resting at the top of the lower jaw and ready for vibro-action.

Weighing only 11 grams, the Prime causes little discomfort after extended usage, and the noise-cancelling feature is surprisingly effective, even walking around the bustling streets of Camden could not dampen the caller on the other end. Neither did we find ourselves shouting over traffic to be heard.

A stylish device, the Prime also comes in a vast array of colours in addition to its dimpled finish, matching any handset or mood. A nice touch, and a step towards courting the casual phone user as well as the businessman.

Battery life as well as voice quality was also tested on a marathon Playstation 3 session, a good place to get an idea of audio reception quality. The main thing it highlighted was just how bad the headsets other people use, with plenty of horrible echoing and background noise. Syncing with the PS3 was the usual Bluetooth cakewalk.

The Prime was done in around three and a half hours, which is not too bad considering the fact that it can be easily set to standby when not in use, and the constant activity when used as a gaming headset tends to drain a battery faster than normal. A quick recharge on the supplied USB charging cable (there is also a USB mains adapter) meant we were back in the game.

As an all-rounder, there is little to fault the Jawbone Prime. That bit of extra cash gets you a sleek, stylish Bluetooth device that is equally functional thanks to first-class NoiseAssassin technology, well worth it.

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Plantronics Voyager PRO – £79.99

Definitely a case of placing form before function, the Voyager Pro strays little from the lineage, acting as a successor to the immensely popular Voyager 510 still riding high in sales charts years after release.

With a overwhelming sense of ‘if it ain’t broke,’ the Voyager Pro looks much like a last-gen Bluetooth headset, but it is rammed to the gills with bleeding-edge AudioIQ noise-cancelling functionality, as well as being made of the highest grade materials.

Pairing is a simple exercise, a clearly marked power button is depressed, and the accompanying LED gives a little flash of awareness.  Input the code in your phone, and you’re ready to go! The Pro is not ashamed of requiring buttons to work, and as such places them in plain sight. The volume up/down keys are placed on the top of the ear loop, whilst the ‘talk’ button is squarely on the side of the earpiece.
Vocal cues are also offered, with the dulcet tones of a lady informing of muting status, as well as of low remaining battery life.

It might not be a voice you’ll hear too often, given that the battery life for the Voyager Pro is a whopping 6 hours talk time, with 5 days of standby.  Arguably it ought to last all week given the size of the ear loop, but running out of juice at an inopportune moment is a good thing to never have to worry about.

It is a tad difficult to get over the retro styling of the Voyager Pro, as the bulky design and extended microphone boom are not pretty. Admittedly, the microphone is there primarily to perform a function and placing it as close to the mouth as possible just makes sense.

Those who aren’t fans of having equipment constantly plastered to their face will find a boom a better audio/noise cancelling solution than the Prime’s reliance on jaw vibration.

For that matter, the noise reduction is exemplary. The boom actually has two microphones, the usual inside mic for speaking into, and an outside mic for picking up ambient noise levels. The audio algorithms between the two pieces of audio allow the Voyager Pro to separate the ambient chatter from your voice, with stunning results.

The rubber earpiece supplied is fairly comfortable, but the weight in comparison to the Prime, particularly behind the ear, takes some getting used to.  Coming in at 17 grams, the weight of the Pro is noticeable, yet well balanced on the ear.

Calls are crystal clear, and the difference between a device that has been manufactured for quality above all else is palpable, in terms of both use and feel. The specially chosen acoustic fabrics and steel microphone screens provide crisp, distortion-free output, so far as to get compliments on audio quality from other team members during a particularly heated battle in Call of Duty!

Whilst everything from washing machines to babies and annoying brothers can be heard in the background chatter of other players’ mics, the Pro managed to mix out practically all of the ambient noise, despite residing with others in a busy living room.

The ample choices of charging via USB, three and two-pin mains and even a car charger in the box was a nice perk, but a hectic afternoon of defending checkpoints and calling in artillery strikes resulted in the Pro losing only a third of battery life.

This is definitely the handset to go for if you are serious about having a sturdy, dependable Bluetooth headset with exemplary performance. The slightly unattractive styling, steep price and also the relatively unknown nature of Plantronics as a brand will make the Voyager Pro a tough sell to the average consumer.

However, the Voyager Pro is admittedly not an average Bluetooth headset for your average consumer, despite their protestations. The high-grade construction, peerless call quality and almost perfect noise reduction places the Voyager Pro firmly as a frontrunner in the premium Bluetooth headset market, making it a great choice for professionals constantly on the move.

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BlueAnt Q1 - £79.99

Whilst the Jawbone Prime and Voyager Pro are evolutions on long-established technology, the BlueAnt shakes up the Bluetooth market with brand new voice recognition technology.

With no prompting or learning, the Q1 enables almost complete phone functionality using just voice commands.

A definite selling point, the Q1 recognises your voice immediately without any training and has a myriad of commands that allow you to answer calls, check battery status, redial numbers and even discover some handy tricks for how to use it by saying “Teach Me”.

Even the entire pairing process is conducted via a series of voice commands piped into your ear, making the Q1 tremendously easy to set up. All you need to say is ‘Pair Me’, and you’re away!

The Q1’s styling as sleek and futuristic as the technology inside it, a curved and minimalist design of dark-grey plastic with a main ‘talk’ button emblazoned with the BlueAnt logo, and two smaller volume keys on the top of the device.

Placing it near your mouth is paramount for getting it to work, as the voice prompting is super sensitive to various commands. A blustery day or travelling in a car can make the Q1 a tad difficult to use, so the best chance of it working is by positioning the microphone portion in the right direction.

The noise cancelling is quite some ways off the pace set by the Voyager Pro, and is even a couple of steps behind the Prime in the call quality stakes. Calls are still very  much audible and the ‘voice isolation sensor’ which forgoes audio fidelity to increase audibility in busy locations (in Max mode) works well.

It is just a matter of being spoilt by the wind-cancelling tech in other devices that made the Q1 in arguably the most important department…

Nevertheless, the Q1 has the cool factor in spades, with call mute and call waiting support, automatic volume modulation according to the surroundings and a decent battery life of 4 hours talk time.

If any device existed to make Bluetooth headsets cool, then the Q1 is it.  The mean form factor, the cool voice interface, even the ‘edgy’ logo, everything about the Q1 sets it apart, in a good way.

iPhone 3G S vs. Nokia N97 – Clash Of The Cutting Edge Smartphones!

With two of the most influential phone makers set to release their flagship handsets tomorrow, we thought it a perfect time to weigh the refined Apple iPhone 3G S against the keyboard-toting Nokia N97.

With a faster processor, more storage and a sweeter camera, the iPhone 3G S plugs (almost) all of the gaps in the iconic touchscreen device, whilst the Nokia N97 offers a sexier form factor, a new widget-based homescreen and bleeding edge features, but which is best?

Join us as we delve into a world of stat-based wonder!

Size: The handsets measure up pretty closely, the N97 is a hair longer and 7mm narrower than the 3G S, explaining the 16:9 widescreen ratio of the screen. Depth is an understandable extra 4mm, a tiny amount considering it’s also housing a fine 3 row QWERTY keyboard within that slender frame.

The iPhone 3G S is cosmetically almost identical to the 3G model, meaning the dimensions are also very similar. Opting for a slightly wider and stockier build than the N97, the iPhone is a touch more unwieldy in smaller palms, resulting in two handed use to perform even the simplest of tasks.

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Weight: The iPhone 3G S is around the ideal fighting weight for a smartphone at 135g, weighing a couple of grams more than the previous model, possibly due to a new battery (more about that later…). The N97 is a bit more tubby at 150g, that keyboard providing convenience at a significant additional weight.

Winner: iPhone 3G S

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Screen: The touch screen big boys of the N97 and iPhone are neck-and-neck, both boasting 3.5″ TFT displays. The usual gamut of accelerometers and proximity sensors for rotating and preventing accidental presses when plastered to your ear are included, but the 3G S has a number of display features that put it firmly in the lead.

The capacitive touchscreen of the Apple device results in an incredibly responsive touch experience that also supports features like multi-touch to zoom whilst browsing the net or viewing pictures, whilst the N97 has a somewhat slower resistive touchscreen.

This results in no multitouch, and a distinctly less intuitive experience, but it does still have a full keyboard and a d-pad to fall back on, making typing and texting much easier.

Those not used to typing out messages might find the iPhone screen tough at first, but a bit of practice (with some predictive help) will see you going at full pelt in no time! If that newly-found speed results in lots of thumbprints on your shiny 3G S, a new oleophobic coating allows oil to be easily cleaned and the screen remain viewable.

Winner: iPhone 3G S

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Camera: Whilst neither device is leading the pack in the megapixel race, both the iPhone 3G S and Nokia N97 have had massive improvements to their paparazzi power over previous models.

The Nokia N97 has a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss optics lens, autofocus, and an LED flash for night-time photography.

White balance, contrast and sharpness options are also included, but it stops short of the face/smile detection features the have become commonplace in a lot of phones touting cameras of 8 megapixels and above.

Quality rather than quantity is the most important thing, and still images and 30 frames per second VGA video capture are both incredibly decent.

The iPhone 3G S camera is a generational leap beyond the woefully underwhelming 2 megapixel snapper on previous models, finally bringing something at least comparable to the current generation of smartphones.

Apple took a lot of flak for sticking a camera with no autofocus and no flash on their high end device, and the new 3.1 megapixel lens does now offer all manner of focusing and auto-balancing features, making for quality shots. Still no flash though, but we can’t have everything I suppose!

The video recording is an entirely new addition however, and is really quite impressive. VGA at 30 frames per second, the 3G S offers some silky smooth video, and easy uploading to YouTube. There is even a mini-editing suite on the device to trim down the fat and create your perfect movie.

So whilst the N97′s camera may well be better overall, the 3G S deserves an honourable mention for being so much better than it was.

Winner: Nokia N97

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Battery: Another gold star for ‘most improved’ where the 3G S is concerned, managing to boost both 2G talktime from 10 to 12 hours, audio from 24 to 30 hours and internet over Wi-Fi from 6 to 9 hours. This improved battery is probably what resulted in that little weight gain over the iPhone 3G.

These stats are not too bad in comparison to other handsets too, offering more two and a half hours more 2G talktime than the N97, but an hour less on 3G.

The standby time is no match, however, with the impressive 400+ hours on the N97, leaving the 300 hour standby time for the iPhone in the dust.

Winner: Nokia N97

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Memory: The beefiest (and priciest) iPhone 3G S has seen a memory jump to twice the size, now offering 32GB of internal memory for music, movies and apps. This matches the Nokia N97′s mammoth memory but with an SD card slot for a cheeky extra 16GB, the slider steals ahead once again as it can go up to a mind-expanding 48GB.

Winner: Nokia N97

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Special Skills: It may be the last round, but it is equally by far the most important for the iPhone 3G S. This new and refined model might still lag behind other handsets on paper, but it’s the user experience and features that makes Apple’s device take such a prominent role in the mobile game today. The new 3.0 update adds features which might sound so 2001, but will be integral to daily iPhone usage in no time.

MMS messaging, a landscape virtual keyboard for easy typing, tethering to a laptop for browsing the web and a greater integration with the iTunes store takes the iPhone back into the forefront of mobile tech, whilst the new 3G S adds handset specific features like a digital compass (to orient Google Maps to the direction you are facing) and Voice Control, proving gimmicky and essential in equal measure.

Faster HSDPA and a faster processor for better web access and 3G gaming are enhancements the iPhone sorely needed, and will be warmly received. Being in the fortunate position of getting the technology and user interface so right first time allows them the luxury of incremental improvements.

They may not have the most powerful machine to use on the market, but it’s easily the best all-rounder.

The N97 running on software very similar to the 5800 means that the user experience will still prove very familiar to Nokia users, maybe even too familiar to those expecting a super cool flagship device.

The widget interface on the homescreen links into your favourite social networking or news sites, updating live, but the downside is that the user interface lacks uniqueness or refinement.

An FM radio transmitter, great GPS functionality and a Flash-supporting web browser are all great, but common to a number of other devices.

The Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to the App Store and pre-installed on the N97, but is still an unknown entity at present with few must-have apps.

And as it comes with nary a single game on it, you’ll have to spend a little cash to have some fun, then you realise the games are of the old-school phone variety, a million miles from the slick 3D affairs available on the iPhone 3G S….

Never was the adage of something being more than the sum of its parts more true than when describing the 3G S in comparison to the N97.

Nokia’s device should, and does, hammer it in a number of areas, but at the end of the day, Apple’s phone still has everyone else flailing to play catch-up, despite being only the third iteration.

By focusing on features and functions that they feel should drive the advancement of phones rather than getting caught up in the technology arms race, the iPhone is able to court new users swayed the refreshing and gorgeous interface, get them enjoying (and paying for) movies, music, games and applications directly on their phone, and keep them current with new software based updates on a regular basis.

The N97 improves things in many ways but is still built on old Nokia foundations, and it shows. To compete, they need to innovate that little bit more, bring new things that others may want to emulate, rather than chasing the gold.

The 3G S might not be much of a change for current iPhone owners, but it is still a world away from the competition, and that’s what counts.

Winner: iPhone 3G S

Nokia N97 Official Features: Underpowered Or Lean Machine?

With the first official review of the Nokia N97 (albeit in Russian) from blogging heavyweight Eidur Murtazin going online today, we thought it would be a good time to weigh up some blogosphere responses so far…

When the official specs of the Nokia N97 were unveiled, reactions were varied to say the least, from disappointment in a perceived lack of horsepower to excitement in having the fastest processor in a Nokia handset to date.

Symbian Freak was the loudest detractor, labelling the hardware components a disappointment and costly compared to other devices in the smartphone space. The i8910 HD runs on the same software architecture, yet is cheaper with a processor twice as fast and a dedicated graphics unit for gaming. So, is the Nokia N97 overpriced and underpowered in that case?

Well, a post on N97 Geeks piqued my interest, as Paul effectively argues a strong case as to where the smartphone’s strengths will lie.

He remarks that the Nokia N97 will indeed be the Finnish manufacturer’s fastest to date, containing ‘new hardware’ that assists the processor and enables the device to do more, with less.

With 32GB, GPS and a 5MP camera, he states that the device had to take a hit somewhere to keep prices from going through the roof. Also, what good is having the fastest engine if it isn’t properly tuned? The BlackBerry Storm proved frustrating to some users, with poorly optimised operating system that turned many off.

He claims that, the N97 should be nimble enough with the processor it has, without the drain on battery life a super-computer under the hood would entail.

My thoughts?

Hate to sound like a broken record, but the Nokia N97 felt a tad laggy on every occasion I’ve seen it, from Mobile World Congress to private demos. However, a forthcoming event on the 27th of May will have plenty of retail units on hand for Omio to test, and we’ll find out once and for all whether it’s race-tuned or running on empty!

Omio’s Top Mobile Phones: April 2009

April is a very warm month for phones as we saw a couple of huge new releases and a certain Nokia phone decided to take on the mighty iPod in the mobile music market…and won! Before the Summer hots up with a bevy of high end handsets, let’s see what the movers and shakers are at the moment on Omio!

1. Blackberry Curve 8900

Say what you want about the Canadian firm’s ‘if it ain’t broke’ practise of developing new handsets, the BlackBerry strategy works. BlackBerry Storm, anyone? No? Exactly.

So the BlackBerry Curve 8900′s sleek design and improved QWERTY make it the handset of choice for many, over even the flagship BlackBerry Bold. With the late addition of Wi-Fi in the current run of 8900s, there is now even less to separate the Curve’s specs from the pricier Bold.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a fine choice with a 3.2 megapixel camera and a robust media player, as well as the peerless e-mail functionality that has made the name synonymous with 24 hour connectivity.

With Blackberry Curve 8900 deals from as low as £14.68 per month (with the handset costing only £17.99), there has never been a more feature packed smartphone at such entry level prices!

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2. LG Arena (KM900)

What can we say? A marketing push consisting largely of a baby dancing to Michael Jackson was far more successful than we all could have imagined, resulting in this phone flying off the virtual shelves.

A quality touchscreen handset, the intuitive S-Class interface and arresting design may bear a passing similarity to certain popular iDevice, but the Arena has more than enough superior functionality to hold its own.

Dolby Mobile, a 5 megapixel camera, built in GPS with A-GPS and an FM transmitter all places the Arena streets ahead of Apple’s iPhone (on paper, at least!). To use it is to love it, and this is definitely takes centre stage in the mobile phone arena at the moment!

The LG Arena deals are also very competitive at the moment, with a range of £30/12 month deals on Orange proving popular in an market moving towards 18 month and even 2 year contracts.

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3. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Now officially the number one selling mobile music player (iPods included), the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is yet another success story for the Finnish phone maker. Leaks and rumours of a touch phone from Nokia were rife from the day the iPhone was announced, let alone launched.

Nokia’s eventual decision to release the phone known in development as the ‘Tube’ (due to the screen’s long narrow screen aspect ratio) at the low to mid-range price point as opposed to a high-end competitor to Apple’s handset has proved to be inspired, as the push that has notched up 2.8 million sales so far shows no sign of slowing down.

Primarily a music touch phone, the 5800 is still a very much a Nokia handset with a familiar look and function. The success has come from the low price and appealing styling, both making it a hit with the lucrative youth market.

The current Nokia 5800 XpressMusic deals reflect the mid-market success story, with bargains to be had from all retailers on both contract and prepay.

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4. Samsung Tocco Ultra (S8300)

Last but not least, the ultimate Samsung handset! The slider handset inherits the Tocco name and touch interface, but retains a full alphanumeric keypad to offer the best of both form factors! An 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, GPS and geotagging round out Samsung’s flagship handset, making the Tocco Ultra an impressive phone.

The Samsung Tocco Ultra deals at the moment are a little bit pricey due to the cost of the handset, but there are a range of offers like automatic cashback and half price line rental making a long term contract a far more attractive proposal.

One of the best deals is for 200 minutes and unlimited texts for £19.57, with the handset going for a mere £1.99! It is a 24 month offer, though…

5 Reasons iPhone Games Will Take Over The World!

We know, Nintendo can do no wrong and the new DSi is selling like there’s a free Angelina Jolie in every box, but the real gaming powerhouse at the moment is not the camera-packing wonder, nor is it Sony’s powerful yet underappreciated Playstation Portable device – it’s the Apple iPhone.

Those unimpressed by the iPhone’s lackluster initial App Store line up or the shonky Cro-Mag Rally need to remember, the European launch titles for the Playstation 2 were a physics simulator and arguably the worst Ridge Racer game in the series.

The titles being created at the moment for the iPhone are some of the most graphically impressive, innovative, and wallet-friendly titles in the marketplace right now!

Before you go spending a fiver on new costumes for Chun-Li and Cammy, see what kind of gaming experience it could get you on an iPhone…

1. Graphics

We can try and avoid it, but the best looking games get the most attention…just like people. 90% of the iPhone’s gadget-y allure occurs once seen in person, but those looks aren’t just skin deep.

Underneath the Cupertino baby’s sleek exterior beats a PowerVR MBX Lite 3D Graphics Chip, built to handle both the innovative graphics-heavy UI with ease and, once OS 2.0 introduced the App Store, powered gaming experiences light years ahead of the Java-powered morsels mobile gamers had put up with.

Finally, mobile games rivalling the quality handhelds were possible, and whilst the first wave of titles showed off the potential of the iPhone whilst disappointing in terms of gameplay, what could not be argued is how these games looked.

Easily surpassing the Nintendo DS and offering graphics comparable to the heavyweight PSP, stunning titles like Kroll and Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart were enough for the iPhone to immediately be considered (by those who mattered) a gaming platform to be reckoned with.

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Read more…

Nokia Xpress 5800 Debuts BBC Live Streaming

How cool is this.

Video footage has come to light of the Nokia 5800 streaming live footage from the BBC. Watching the BEEB in real time, who would have thought it.

It’s something that has the danger of being just good in theory and there’s always the chance that video being blocky and jaded, with content taking ages to buffer. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Xpress 5800.

Nok Nok, who reviewed the live streaming on the handset are singing its praises, even in the initial beta testing stage.

The video runs on Real Player over Wi-Fi and early reviews report that, even though video footage takes a while to buffer (around 10 seconds), audio kicks in straight away. After that video is glitch-free, clear and sharp.

So Nokia 5800 customers will soon be able to watch BEEB institutions like Jonathan Ross and a Question of Sport anywhere, even on the bus into the work. It sure beats a crumpled copy of the Metro.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Goes MASSIVE!!

This has got to be the biggest Nokia Xpress Music phone in the world.

A Nokia store in Antwerp has the world’s largest Xpress music phone. It’s over 4 feet tall and has a fully functioning touch screen. The GIANT Nokia 5800 works through the shop window where you can browse Nokia maps, flick through the photo libraries and explore the phone’s music files (what else).

Touch display specialists, Visual Planet helped create the flash interface in cooperation with Create Multimedia.

Just imagine the size of the headphones that would go with this…

Source: Create Mulitmedia blog

Orange Vegas Touchscreen Phone

Orange are getting ready to sell one of the world’s most affordable touch screen smart phones, the Orange Vegas.

The handset is dual band GSM/GPRS and features a 2.4 inch TFT touchscreen display. The phone is retailing for only €69 on Pay As You Go, making it one of the cheapest touch-screen phones you can buy.

The phone also has:

• Bluetooth
• MP3 Player
• FM radio
• 1.3MP camera
• 64MB of internal memory
• 1GB MicroSD card
• Talk time: up to 3 hours
• Stand by time: up to 7 days
• 84 grams

The Orange Vegas is already available in black and pink on Orange’s UK website but isn’t available to buy quite yet. It’s expected to go on sale in European markets first of all.

HTC Magic Released On Vodafone May 1

Vodafone’s exclusive Android phone, the HTC Magic, will be available to UK customers from 1 May.

It’s the second phone from Google’s open source Android platform; the first of which was the G1 phone.

Along with the new release date, the Magic has been given a new name – the HTC Magic Pioneer. Quite why the name has changed is anyone’s guess.

Vodafone will be offering the phone for free on £25 a month contracts.