Omio News Blog

Best Mobile Phones of 2011 : Omio’s Top 5

It’s been some year in the world of mobile. And whilst looking forward is what us tech watchers and gadget fanatics love doing more than anyone, it seems the right time to take stock and reflect on what’s happened on planet mobile in the last 12 months…specifically, the five best phones to hit the shelves in 2011.

Here’s our pick of the bunch.

1. Apple iPhone 4S

A controversial inclusion? Maybe. But the iPhone 4S is still one of the best phones that money can buy, even if it did leave Apple fans cold when it was first announced. Look beyond the phone’s year-old design (which is still head and shoulders above the competition), and this is a phone crammed with the best modern mobiles can offer. Full HD camcorder, stunning 8 megapixel camera, Siri voice recognition and access to countless stunning apps. Apple might have big plans for the iPhone 5, but the Apple iPhone 4S is a mighty impressive iterative update.

2. Nokia Lumia 800

Nokia’s had yet another tough year. Yet having started it with boardroom upheaval, it ended 2011 releasing its best smartphone ever and its first to use Windows Phone. The Nokia Lumia 800 is a glorious piece of engineering, with an operating system that remains vastly underrated and sadly lacking in a vast app ecosystem. But with Nokia Drive and Mix Radio, this is a device that’s well worth investing in. A welcome return to form.

3. Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The best Android phone ever? Possibly. Samsung’s latest ‘pure Google’ device is the most cutting edge smartphone out there, using Android Ice Cream Sandwich in conjunction with the kind of tech that rival handsets can only dream of. NFC, Full HD video and a gorgeous 4.65-inch super AMOLED screen make the Samsung Galaxy Nexus an all round winner. 2011’s finest Google phone, no question. Except…

4. Samsung Galaxy S II

The Samsung Galaxy S II runs its stablemate a close second. While not using the latest Android OS, it can be forgiven seeing as it landed months beforehand. This device really saw Sammy move into the big leagues and prove that Android has helped put it well ahead of the pack. The phone has become the choice, not just of Android fanatics, but also mainstream phone users not keen on Apple’s “walled garden”. A great piece of kit.

5. HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio

It’s been a hard year for HTC. After an all-conquering start, its spluttered to a halt, with profit warnings and falling sales. But the HTC Sensation XE is one of its finest ever phones. A rebrand of the Sensation, it uses Beats Audio tech to make it the most musically-focused phone ever. That means improved audio tech under the hood, as well as bundled iBeats headphones, which are better than any other buds we’ve ever used out of the box with a mobile. One for music lovers everywhere.

Apple iPhone 4S Launched: New CEO Talks Future Of Smartphones, Talking Smartphones

A casually clad CEO, a hand-picked captive audience and lengthy self-congratulations before showing off a few new devices…yesterday’s announcement certainly captured some of the essence of an epic Apple reveal, but the new Apple iPhone 4S has truly divided early opinion.

The Apple iPhone 4S (due on the 14th of October) is not the iPhone 5, but once again Apple never acknowledged the maelstrom of rumours that always surrounds their gadget launches, and the blogosphere simply whipped itself into a frenzy of hype…one that perhaps the Cupertino company could never have lived up to.

Extremely high levels secrecy and a desire to control every aspect of the unveiling has only seen intrepid bloggers and journalists become more creative in an effort to leak the year’s biggest tech story…

From blurry images on a Brazilian production line to a unibody prototype iPhone 5 hewn from aluminium, all wanted to know…yet many were a tad underwhelmed when they finally found out.

First things first, the iPhone 4S is a dramatically different smartphone underneath the overly familiar shell, updates include a new A5 dual-core processor (currently starring in the Apple iPad 2), a camera sporting an 8-megapixel lens – also with the ability to film video in 1080p – and an ‘intelligent assistant’ in the form of voice-driven application Siri, all making for an improved handset in the arena that it current shines brightest – user features and functions.

The fact that it looks near identical is unavoidable. Placing the handsets side-by-side makes the 4S a tough sell over its precursor at face value, as does the incremental naming change – seemingly a bunny-hop rather than the hardware leap between the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4, and at a standstill in aesthetic terms.

The marvel is what they’ve managed to contain in the same package. An improved battery life, touting 8 hours of 3G talktime and 40 as a mobile music player. The ability to download data at 4G speeds (as long as the network supports it) is another string in its next-gen bow.

An all-new pair of antennas (hopefully less error-prone!) enables the iPhone 4S to act as a ‘world phone’, operating on both GSM and CDMA networks – perhaps a bullet-point more for those on the other side of the pond, but still impressive.

Feature fiends may claim that many of these specifications have already debuted on Android handsets from the likes of HTC and Samsung, also touting larger displays and more affordable price-points – an incredibly valid point.

However, even though the Nokia N95 won the tale of the tape against the original Apple iPhone, we all know how that story turned out…and it’s important to note that the iPhone 3GS hasn’t quite been put out to pasture just yet, enabling some real mid-range options for price-conscious shoppers.

Consumers are all about the user experience, and the iPhone 4S continues the intuitive touchscreen experience Apple’s devices have become famous for, replete with flourishes of the new iOS 5 software (due to arrive on iThings from the 3GS upward on the 12th of October).

iOS 5 upgrades include a notification centre which is home to the latest events on your device (shades of Android…), free texts to iPod, iPad and other iPhone users with iMessage (more than a little of the BlackBerry Messenger in there) and the ability to finally sever the iPhone’s constant need to connect to a computer with wireless updates as well as data storage on the new web-based iCloud service.

Perhaps some of these ideas were cribbed from the competition, but the enduring march of the Android phones helped Apple realise the iPhone was far from operating in a vacuum, and needed to step up in a few key areas, which they have done.

Much time during the announcement was spent explaining the improvements in image fidelity from the camera’s new 8-megapixel lens, as well as the graphical grunt and ’7x’ improved gaming experiences that the A5 chip will deliver, proving to many that hardware steps had indeed been taken.

Needless to say, Gears of War developer Epic’s Infinity Blade II more than served its purpose as technical showcase, much as the original title did for the iPhone 4 (had to chuckle at the ‘RIP battery life’ comment on YouTube though!).

This portion seemed to serve as Apple’s most overt rebuttal, which smacked of ‘we know the 4S doesn’t look different, but trust us that there’s a lot more going on here’.

As for what the world has in store with voice-driven mobile marvel Siri…well, I went into a bit of detail on that exciting bit of tech on the uSwitch Tech site, alongside constantly pressing F5 in an eternal quest for Apple iPhone 4S deals.

As stale as the ‘evolution, not revolution’ line might be – aside from the gear change from the 3GS to 4 – that seems to have been the mantra that Apple has stuck to for the iPhone since the original device back in 2007.

So maybe we shouldn’t be too disappointed with another ‘S’ model…and Siri truly has the potential to change the way we use all technology, not just mobiles. Check it out.

But I still want my iPhone 5.

Apple iPad Reaches 1% Of Global Internet Browsing, Other Tablets Too Expensive

Pretty conclusive proof that the tablet business – more specifically, the Apple iPad business – is here to stay with recent stats announced by NetMarketShare, as the device apparently claimed 1% of all web browsing in the world this June.

Climbing up to a whopping 2.1% when talking about US browsing numbers, the Apple iPad has undoubtedly become a fixture in people’s general surfing habits.

Taking mobile and tablet numbers together, portable browsing reached a pretty substantial 5% worldwide (8.2% in the United States) as of last month.

With word that the iPad 2 has finally been jailbroken, in the last couple of days, it may well open the floodgates for iOS fans to freely fill their boots with their favourite devices!

In related – if slightly obvious news – YouGov’s TabletTrack survey has shown that the competition in the tablet market is deemed too pricey in the face of the iPad, and that a massive 77% of the 3,000-odd gadget fans surveyed are looking to purchase an Apple-flavoured tablet.

Looks like both the new category of device in tablets, as well as the banner-waving iPad will be around for some time to come…

3 Reasons Why The New BlackBerry Playbook Advert Sucks

The BlackBerry Playbook tablet launched amid loads of media-friendly pizazz at Selfridge’s earlier this month, and despite being a device that essentially requires tethering to a Blackberry handset to tether to in order to do most interesting things, they still saw fit to push a pretty aggressive ad campaign in the UK:

This is not a good way to market a new tablet device, just let me count the ways:

1) Many normal people neither know nor care about Flash support.

“What? That thing that my PC keeps telling me to install, and I ignore? Yeah, I don’t want Flash.” That was my girlfriend’s reaction when I tried to explain what Flash was, after first witnessing this advert on TV.

Guess what? Those photogenic, aspirational, under-25, skateboarding, DJing, parkouring and breakdancing BlackBerry customers you’ve been trying so hard to target (including by sponsoring the Black Eyed Peas on tour)? They have little time to fret over what Flash is, nor do they care about this in the slightest.

The Flash argument is one generated and propagated mainly by super techie folks and BlackBerry fanboys, so preaching to the converted with your ad by bigging up Flash is not the greatest way to spread the word about a new device…if people can check their mail, go on Facebook and maybe play an app or 100,000, they’re golden.

Show off that Quake demo if you really want to get some geek juice flowing!

Don’t try and blind me with animation from slow-loading sites that will likely rinse my mobile bill to view over 3G anyway…checked out Heavy.com lately? Us neither.

2) Smacks of trying too hard to compete with the Apple iPad.

“Unlike some tablets we could mention…” You just did.

Why not try and promote the Playbook in isolation? Don’t tell me in your ads why I don’t want an iPad, now I’m just thinking about an iPad!

When I see the price of a new BlackBerry Playbook and the mixed reviews, I’m definitely thinking about an iPad…

The Apple iPad 2 doesn’t try to compete with you. It doesn’t compete with anything. Check it:

Apple adverts are brilliant in their execution by suggesting that an iPad is becoming an essential device.

Doctors use it to check out sonograms now. Businessmen show their revenue projections on it now. Kids do their homework on it now. If you don’t have one, you are using outmoded technology…apparently.

Not a mention of megapixels, gigaflops or screen resolution. In another iPad ad, Apple actually downplays those technological aspects of the device.

Remember the ‘Retina Display’ with the iPhone 4? Thanks to Apple, now everyone does. A technical term referring to the screen’s resolution, wrapped beautifully in common PR lingo, and is now becoming common parlance.

Okay, they also chatted about ‘oleophobic coatings‘ with that one and the iPhone 3GS, but my mobile gets just as greased up as any other…

The point is that they’ve laid all the groundwork! Apple spent ages, and also billions of dollars, convincing the world that these flat slabs – iPad included – were better in some ways than our phones and netbooks, and had the potential to change the portable gadget landscape forever.

So what does BlackBerry do? Iterate on the strengths of the iPad and advertise the Playbook’s myriad advancements as such? Nope.

“Ours is better than that one! We got Flash!” (*slide trombone* *tapdances on stage* *sound of crickets*)

The specs arms race is all but finished in terms of consumer-facing marketing, the iPhone’s camera should have told you that (“Megapixels? Don’t care. Does it work? Awesome.”).

Unless it’s a feature that can impress both friends and family at the local watering hole (Dual-Core anyone? No? Okay…), then don’t try to make it a bullet-point for the box.

Hate to harp on, but to make Flash not just a bullet-point but the only point in your opening salvo on UK audiences was wide of the mark. Dazzle with true pluses, not attempts at point scoring.

3) That song.

How much that Queen song set you back for clearance? Whoo, that much?

Kind of like the double meaning, the BlackBerry Playbook is the saviour of the tablet scene…with Flash.

But you do know it’s 30 years old, right? Anyone with any kind of nostalgic attachment to Flash’s Theme is on their second or third job now, not the trendy bike courier or rollerskating masseuse you’ve been trying to attract with your devices all this time…kind of a mixed message.

It seems to be a reference that would easily sail over the heads of kids that RIM wants to be way into BlackBerry now, reaffirming this tablet’s – and the firm’s – grown-up leanings they just can’t shake.

The comments upon the PlayBook’s launch regarding it ‘lacking the cool factor’ seem to be almost endorsed by this anachronistic choice of song in the advert…simply not suited to the hip Diplo, Henry Holland and Ernest Doku-endorsed BlackBerry line we’ve witnessed for the past few years.

The PlayBook needs to have a distinct voice in the tablet space, and also needs to promote what it actually can and can’t do in and of itself, rather than playing a petty game of one upmanship against the iPad with the aid of circa 1981 Freddie Mercury and his cohorts.

Tighten it up, RIM!

Apple’s new iOS announced

Apple’s iOS 5 update to their iPhone operating system has been launched at their developers conference, with Twitter integration, iMessage, notification center, newsstand, iCloud and arrives later on this year.

Twitter is now built in to the platform and directly into the Photos, Camera, Safari, YouTube and Maps apps. iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices running iOS 5 can tweet straight from these twitter enabled pieces of software.

The iCloud is an internet service from Apple with 5GB of storage space that seamlessly and automatically keeps all of the mail, contacts, calendars, photos, apps, books, music up-to-date across devices without ever having to connect to a computer.

Apple’s new iMessage is set to rival BlackBerrry messenger, with a single app that allows sending of text messages, photos and videos between iOS run devices.

There is also a new notification center, which offers a much easier way to view and manage notifications in one place without any interruption – amongst 200 new features appearing in iOS 5.

Missing from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this year was a new iPhone, as for the past four years there has always been a new model brought to the event.

Check out all of the iPhone deals at OMIO today!

iPad Users Love Branded Content, Apple Products

I know it’s easy to file under ‘obvious,’ but some stats about iPad owner predilections recently revealed by the Association of Publishing Agencies tell us some interesting things about Apple tablet fans…

The study found that 73% of those surveyed would rather opt for a free app plastered with logos than a pricey one sans branding, whilst 61% of the 952 iPad wielders also had an iPhone and 39% had a MacBook. Think that says more about the mentality of Apple cultists users rather than their preference for branded apps…

So, are people actually willing to pay for stuff when it comes to mobile content? Try telling that to Rupert Murdoch…

Source: Sell My Mobile

UK iPad 2 prices made public

Apple’s updated tablet costs have officially been converted to pounds sterling, with prices starting from £399 for the 16GB WIFI only iPad 2.

The iPad 2 comes with a new design that is 33 per cent thinner and up to 15 per cent lighter than the original iPad, with the same 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen that runs from a new dual-core A5 processor with two cameras – a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime, along with a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video.

Apple turfed out the USA costs of the iPad 2 when they announced the new tablet on March 2nd. These are $499, $599 and $699 for the 16, 32 and 64GB WIFI only models. The 3G and WIFI version came in at $629, $729 and $829 – all for the same capacities.

Apple’s iPad 2 in the UK costs £399, £479 and £559 for the 16, 32 and 64 WIFI only, with the 3G and WIFI models coming in at £499, £579 and £659.

Check out all the Apple iPad deals at OMIO today!

Apple iPhone 4 16GB Now FREE On Orange £45 Per Month Plans

UPDATE: Turns out that this is just a weekend long offer, so fill your boots with some cheap iPhone deals before they’re gone on Monday!

Apple’s iPhone 4  now available absolutely free on Orange £45 and above plans, courtesy of Mobiles.co.uk.  This brings the handset cost, or lack thereof, in line with similar existing deals on Vodafone, but consumers can be comforted by the fact that they are joining a provider touted as having the widest network coverage in the UK.

£45 a month on Orange will get you a shiny new completely free handset, 1200 anytime cross-network minutes, unlimited texts and a generous 750MB data allowance for all your mobile media demands.  Those looking for a cheaper tariff can also rejoice in the fact that handset prices have been dropped competitively across the other price plans.  The table below shows the previous ‘standard’ rates with the new ‘promotional’ rates below.  Go to Omio’s deals page for further details.

The merger last year between Orange and T-Mobile under the company  ‘Everything Everywhere’ created the UK’s largest mobile network with over 40% of the market.  ‘Everything Everywhere’ also encapsulates Three’s expansive 3G network, meaning customers will have the widest voice and data coverage in the country.

The Apple iPhone 4 itself needs little in the way of introduction, this sleek shiny touchscreen handset incorporates exceptional design, courtesy of Apple’s British design guru Jonathan Ives, and it’s widely praised, intuitive and downright swooshy IOS software continues to gain fans, including, (as you may have seen in the news this week), none other than Nokia’s head honcho CEO, Stephen Elop!

The 5 megapixel camera with built in flash also handles HD video recording at 720p.  On-the-fly editing is a doddle with iMovie, and everything looks incredible on the 3.5” 960×640 pixel ‘Retina Display’.  Users can make video calls to other iPhone 4’s via Apple’s own Facetime, or also via the popular free Skype app.  And speaking of apps, Apple is still king of the castle.  The App Store has currently over 400,000 apps available, and this year hit the 10 billion sold mark.  The handset is the proud receiver of T3 Magazine’s ‘Commuter Gadget of the Year 2010’ having provided hours of relief from the daily commute via its many many fun games and the familiar iPod music player.

We’ll continue to keep you informed about the latest mobile phone bargains, feel free to browse the other offers available for iPhone on Omio’s mobile deals page.

BlackBerry Claim No.1 Spot in UK Smartphone Market, Bolstered By December Prepay Handset Sales

Research In Motion, the Canadian firm behind the BlackBerry, have rolled out the brass band to trumpet the success of their handsets in the UK throughout 2010 and December in particular.  BlackBerry as a brand seems to be bolstered by sales of their Curve range, available on prepay and affordable SIM-free deals, like the Curve 8520 handsets, and the slightly fancier Curve 3G models.  Statistics come courtesy of market research firm GfK.

According to the stats.  BlackBerry had a 36% share of the overall UK smartphone market in December 2010 making them the No.1 smartphone brand in the UK.  BlackBerrys proved to be something of a Christmas gift hit, shifting  over 500,000 units.  The figures point to BlackBerry being the No.1 prepay smartphone brand with 51.1% of all prepay handsets sales .  We have to agree that’s a lot of stockings stuffed!

Part of the BlackBerry brand’s success over this period can be put down to the uptake of mobile social networking in lower cost handsets.  They have called another couple first places, claiming their handsets to be the No.1 home of the Twitterati by reporting over 6 million Twitter app downloads, as well as claiming to be the No.1 for ‘engagement on Facebook’.  Reports that a RIM representative will be available to attend all the weddings are, as yet, unsubstantiated.

The BlackBerry brand has in the past veered towards the business/productivity market thanks to its physical keyboard and secure email infrastructure, with handsets like the Bold 9780 honouring this tradition.  However they have also infiltrated the consumer market, through valuable exposure as something of a celebrity fashion accessory. For the higher end of the market, handsets such as the hybrid qwerty/touchscreen Torch 9800 and the entirely touch orientated Storm 2 still appeal to the high end user.  The much lauded security of their emailing and messenger service, has had much positive press in disaster situations as well.  During the July 7th London bombings for example, as the mobile networks ground to a halt with the sudden increase in traffic, BlackBerry users reported that their BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and email services still remained active.

The BlackBerry user base, is now expanding into new territories.  For the younger, more cost conscious prepay user, the attraction is clear towards more affordable handsets like the Curve 8520 and the Curve 3G.  Both contain all the social networking and multimedia functions that you’d care to shake a stick at, and the ease of the classic qwerty keypad loved by messaging addicts the world over.  The brand exclusive BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service also provides a solid cost-free means of staying in touch with 55 million other BlackBerry users worldwide, without fear of international text costs or tipping over your monthly text allowances.  BBM itself has also developed into something of a social network in its own right, with profiles, file sharing and recently enabling the exchange of contact details via visual QR Codes, rather than the slightly cumbersome PIN id’s. Whilst many of us have at some point heard or referred to them as CrackBerrys, due to the addictive power of their messenging services, this also points to their success at creating a strong user loyalty.

Whilst some are happy enough to splash something in the £500+ range for a high end touchy-feely handset off contract, many more utilise the subsidised model to offset the initial costs.  An 18 or 24 month contract to a mobile provider puts handsets such as the Samsung’s Galaxy S,  HTC’s Desire range, Apples iphone and the higher end Blackberry Storm 2 within range of anyone who is prepared to shoulder the higher monthly rate.  However it shows that in the prepay end of the market, consumers are demanding smarter phones.  The inevitable forward momentum of technology means features that were once deemed high end, soon filter down to become standard issue.  The handsets of the near future at CES proved that manufacturers were looking to faster 4G connections, 3D screens, dual core processors and Near Field Communications (think contactless credit or Oyster cards) to push the envelope for high end cutting edge mobile tech, and keep us tech heads all cooing over, and shelling out for the latest flash mobiles.

So whilst RIM’s stats rightfully celebrate their 2010 success in the UK, in the world smartphone market, the picture is somewhat different.  Industry analysts and data crunchers Canalsys released figures indicating that Google’s unstoppable ‘Droid army is dominating the worldwide smartphone market overall, with a 33% market share.  This share is made up of handsets notably by Samsung, LG and HTC, but its not so much the handset that matters, rather the platform itself that is important.  Android phones dominated sales with 33.3 million handset sales, growing 600% and edging Nokia off the top spot.  Apple  and RIM seem some way behind, selling 16.2 million and 14.6 million units respectively by the end of 2010.

In the near future RIM are looking to make a move into the lucrative and yet Apple/Android dominated tablet market, with the upcoming release of the BlackBerry Playbook.  They must hope that some of that brand loyalty will carry users over from their established and new markets.  If Apple were to make a similar yet opposite move and release the oft rumored ‘iPhone Nano’, a smaller, affordable iOS device, it could be seen as an aggressive maneuver to expand out from the high end handset market, into territory that is currently being gobbled up by RIM in both the UK and also the US and Latin America.  Whilst Apple have never been closely associated with the words ‘cheap’ or ‘affordable’, this could help them win back some of this market share from Google and possibly spell trouble for RIM.

However, it begs the question, do Apple really need to make such a move to attack Google’s dominance?  Further figures this time from Asymco- (seriously, who comes up with these names?) shows Apple ending 2010 having gobbled up a staggering 51% of the entire mobile industry’s profit pie chart.  In any event, if Apple ever were to make such a move, they may find themselves having to physically prize the phones out of the hands of hoards of loyal BlackBerry addicts,  before they can take over any of RIM’s market.

iPhone FaceTime video calling now possible over 3G

Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices can now use the FaceTime video-calling feature over 3G, by using the latest Skype messenger and voice software – which now has video capabilities built in to the new version.

The iPhone FaceTime video calling can still only be used through a WIFI connection, where the new version of Skype for devices running iOS 4 and above can be used to get around that limitation and for the very first time.

Video calling isn’t limited any more to just Apple to Apple devices either, as Skype can also be used to call a computer or laptop running Skype – where a webcam and the Apple front-facing camera can both to used for the callers to see each other over video.

Check out the full range of great offers on the Apple iPhone 4 and Apple iPad at OMIO.