Omio News Blog

Video Footage Of Upcoming BlackBerry Curve ‘Apollo’ Leaked

Video of the rumoured, yet still unannounced follow up to RIM’s wildly successful Curve 3G, currently being touted as the Curve 9370 ‘Apollo’, has leaked online courtesy of Vietnamese blog tinhte.vn via our friends at electricpig.co.uk.  See the video below, and a run down of what to expect from the newest BlackBerry handset.

What is apparent from the video is the new bodyshape, a smooth more rounded back, and tapered at the top and bottom, which makes the handset feel even thinner than its actual 11mm.  The 3.5 headphone socket has moved to the top, and the side has a volume rocker, camera button and a tiny tiny standby button.  Feel free to ogle it above in all its YouTube glory.

Whilst our Vietnamese is admittedly, um, non existent, an internet translation of the accompanying article does reveal some more interesting tech specs:

The camera has been improved to 5MP, with an LED flash to capture all of those late night/low light moments.  There is also a front facing VGA camera included.  The screen has also been given a pixel bump in line with the higher end BlackBerry models, up to 480 x 360 pixels, from 320 x 240.

The Curve Apollo runs the latest version of BlackBerry OS, version 6.1, and appears to run along smoothly thanks to double the memory (512mb) and a speed bump in the form of an 800MHz Marvell ‘Tavor’ processor.

Fingers crossed that RIM are slightly more cool about early footage of their handsets getting online than Apple were with the iPhone 4.  Lets just hope our guys in Vietnam doesn’t get some steel capped boots knocking at the door any time soon!

Stay posted to Omio for any more official details.  In the meantime, feel free to sign up for alerts on Omio’s deals page, so that the moment we get any indication of pricing or availability for the BlackBerry Curve ‘Apollo’, we’ll let you know!

Android Gaming Arrives On The Big Screen With EVO 2 Console

The latest Android games on your telly could quite possibly become a reality, thanks to the new EVO 2 console from hardware maker Envizions. At a cost of $250 the device will be pretty meaty, including a TV remote, EVO game controller and an HDMI cable for high-def support.

Specifications include a Samsung 1.2 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a modified version of the Android 2.2 operating system, and is scheduled for an Autumn 2011 launch.

Whilst doubling as a media centre and data storage system, the EVO 2 tries to one-up the 360′s ‘Live’ service by giving players the chance to earn actual points to purchase free Android games with ‘EVO tokens’, whilst save storage will the handled in the infamous cloud.

Despite a pledge to jump on the motion-controlling bandwagon with waggle support in the fourth quarter of this year, the Android-equipped device will also be open source, with developers already able to both create new titles on a Software Development Kit (subject to an annual fee of $149), as well as the ability to port over their existing lineup to the fledgling platform.

As if the EVO 2 didn’t have enough buzzword bullet points in its press release, the console will be the first to have major decisions surrounding its creation ‘crowd sourced’, enabling people to assist in the trajectory of development from hardware colourways to package designs, and even launch territories via the usual social networking portals.

Fair enough, why spend millions of dollars on research and development strategies for your new console when excitable children will do it all for free?

Nevertheless, the absence of touchscreen support in the above mockup (currently a mobile gaming mainstay), and the lack of must-play titles at launch and a hefty price point ($50 less than an Xbox 360 and $100 more than Nintendo’s Wii) could work against the EVO 2 at this point…but perhaps the desire to play Android favourites and access media on the big screen could be too strong to turn down.

Source: Joystiq

Amazon lists two new HTC mobile phones

Pre-ordering of the HTC Salsa and HTC ChaCha ‘FaceBook’ handsets have opened up on Amazon, with an arrival date of 26th June; SIM free and unlocked.

HTC’s ChaCha and Salsa both arrive with the Android Gingerbread versions, with the updated HTC Sense theme and an actual Facebook button that launches access to that social networking website.

The Salsa has a 3.4-inch full touch screen and the ChaCha has a smaller 2.6-inch touch screen, only with a Qwerty keyboard that looks rather like an early BlackBerry Curve or a more recent Bold.

Both handsets run from a 600Mhz CPU, with a 5megapixel camera and more of a low price point than other HTC handsets as the HTC ChaCha runs in at £249.99 and the HTC Salsa is £319.99.

Check out all of the HTC Salsa and ChaCha deals at OMIO today!

HTC Flyer available to order

HTC’s first ever tablet is now around to order from Expansys.com, with the Flyer costing just £479.99 for the 16GB WIFI model and £599.99 for the 32GB 3G version – both SIM free and unlocked.

The HTC Flyer made is first public appearance at Mobile World Congress this year, along with 5 other new handsets from the Taiwanese mobile phone maker.

HTC’s Flyer runs from Android ‘Gingerbread’ 2.3, although the more recent spate of tablets all run the Android Android ‘Honeycomb’ 2.3 OS that has been designed solely for these products.

The Flyer comes with a 7-inch 1024×600 LCD capacitive touch screen, with a 1.5GHz processor, a 5MP camera and HTC Sense v2.1.

This tablet is just one of the plethora of large touch screen devices to arrive this year to take on the Apple iPad 2; with the Xoom from Motorola, another two Galaxy Tabs from Samsung and the TouchPad from HP – to name but a few.

Check out all of the HTC Flyer deals at OMIO here.

Applications for the Windows Phone 7 hits a new height

Microsoft’s Windows Maketplace has just reached 9,000 items, made up from applications and games and there’s still 100 apps being submitted each and every day.

There’s more than 32,000 developers writing these apps, where the software tools have been downloaded more than a million times to date with cut and paste just being rolled out to the new version as well.

When the mobile Windows Phone 7 software store launched for the platform there was only 445 apps, where this huge increase is down to the uptake from the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG manufactured handsets.

Check out the latest Windows Phone 7 deals at OMIO today!

Low cost music Nokia mobile phone launches

Nokia’s new X1-00 handset has one of the loudest speakers, longest battery lifes and lowest costs of any of their devices around today.

X1-00 comes with a 128×160 screen, with a built FM radio, an MP3 player along with three dedicated music buttons and a loud speaker that can actually shake window frames.

The mobile’s operating system is one of the older Symbian Series 30 that delivers to the whole phone a whopping 61 hours of battery life on standby, or over two and a half days between charges.

There’s even five different address books on the Nokia mobile that allows for multiple people to share the phone.

Nokia’s X1-00 is coming to a store near you in April with a cost of just £30 or 34 Euros, making this idea for the real budget, prepay or youth market.

Check out all of the Nokia deals on OMIO today.

Unlimited downloading comes to pay as you go on Three

Three has taken the training wheels off their £15 a month prepay tariff, by allowing their customers to download as much as they want with no limits whatsoever.

This comes only a few months after Three took the data cap off their One Plan and offered for the first time on any network a truly unlimited data allowance, on a 24-month contract.

Three’s pay as go All On One deal is a rolling 30-day price plan that also comes with 300 minutes, along with a 3,000 text message allowance – with mobile broadband that no longer needs monitoring.

No other mobile phone network offers anything like this in the UK, where some have even started to tighten their belts by reducing data limits and Three are even set to bring out in 21Mbps HSPA+ this summertime.

Check out all the Three mobile phone and device deals at OMIO!

LG Optimus 3D – Sim Free Pricing Details, Release Date

LG’s showstopper at MWC 2011, the LG Optimus 3D is available SIM-free for pre-order via Expansys.com for £514.99.  The handset is currently listed for release on the 25th April 2011.

On top of being an already feature packed 1Ghz Android phone, the Optimus 3D’s real selling point is it’s 3D tech credentials.  With two 5MP camera’s at the rear, capable of shooting 720P high definition 3D video and pictures, this sci-fi handset is going to set the expectations for 3D technology for years to come.  The future is here people!

Whilst a lot of the ‘meh factor’ surrounding 3D up until this point has been down to the goofy (and sometimes expensive) glasses, naysayers will be happy to hear that the Optimus 3D has a revolutionary new 4.3″ screen that can switch at an instant from super crisp 2D, to extra-dimensional 3D before your unbelieving eyes.

There has also been issues surrounding the lack of watchable 3D content.  This is soon to change however with Youtube releasing a dedicated 3D channel, enabling users to view and share 3D content on the fly.  At this very moment, the producers of You’ve Been Framed are clearly rubbing their hands at the prospect of a raft of freely available family calamity videos.  People falling over has never looked so real!  LG are also chucking 3D games into the mix

The Optimus 3D will soon be joined by Nintendo’s 3DS handheld console, due out in March, as the only two ways to play 3D games on the go, an application that I think has always made more sense than 3D films.  Both units will share the sci-fi glasses-free screen and dual camera’s, so love it or hate it, 3D content is here to stay… for now.

Be one of the first to get your hands on the Optimus 3D SIM-free on Omio’s deals page.

O2 to get the Sony Ericsson Arc

Upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Android mobile will be arriving on O2 in April, according to the coming soon page for new handsets on the O2 website.

Sony Ericsson’s Arc is a 4.2-inch capacitive touch screen phone, which boasts a Reality display and Sony’s Bravia mobile engine with stunning image quality.

The latest handset from Sony Ericsson will ship with Android 2.3, with an 8.1 MP camera and a microHMI port for the playback of HD video onto a compatible screen.

Xperia Arc will effectively be replacing last year’s Xperia X10 phone, which was their lead mobile until rumours of the PlayStation handset surfaced – with a more recent rumour that it will be announced at Mobile World Congress.

No tariff details have been released by O2 for the Arc, but we’ll bring you more details as and when we have them.

Check out the full range of Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc deals handsets at OMIO

Orange join forces with Barclaycard to bring wireless payment to the mobile phone

The merged companies of T-Mobile and Orange have double teamed with credit card maker’s Barclaycard to offer near field communion money transactions, by the summertime.

There are over 40,000 stores on the high-street already geared up for the contactless NFC payment method, where just holding the phone up to the electronic reader allows for the payment of goods; in much the same way as the London underground Oyster card.

The shops currently running the Barclaycard near field communication scheme are Pret a Manger, EAT, Little Chef and soon the Co-Op, with many more being planned.

Orange will be the first to run with this new partnership and technology, with T-Mobile slowly gaining the ability within time.

A number of NFC enabled mobile phones are in production by many different handset manufacturers, where the most popular of which has to be the Samsung made Google Nexus S which replaced the HTC manufactured Google Nexus One mobile phone.

Check out our full range of Google Nexus S deals at OMIO