Mobile Phone News

GSM Association Backs Plans For Universal Charger

By Suzanne MorrowcloseAuthor: Suzanne Morrow Name: Suzanne Morrow
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So many phones, so many chargers.

The world’s biggest phone manufacturers are backing plans for a universal Micro-USB charger announced in a statement from the GSM Association at the Mobile World Conference on Tuesday.

According to the GSMA, the single charger will be more energy efficient and use 50% less standby energy than any of the cables in use today. Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, T-Mobile, Orange, 3, AT&T and Vodafone are all for the change which will come into effect in 2012.

Mitti Storckovius, director of environmental devices at Nokia said:

“By supporting this industry initiative on common charging solutions, and enabling consumers to choose if they need a charger with every new device or can re-use existing ones, we can contribute further in improving the industry’s environmental footprint”

For as long as consumers have been spoiled by the choice of handsets available, manufacturers have come under pressure to offer standardised chargers that work across multiple devices.

A universal Micro-USB charger would not only make around 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers pretty much redundant but it would make all our lives a little bit easier by not having to search for compatible Motorola/Vodafone/Sony Ericsson chargers whenever our phones die a death.

Check out our mobile-analyst-in-chief, Ernest Doku’s, take on the universal charger story as quoted in the Daily Telegraph and the Metro today.

Plam Inc. Shares Rocket Ahead of MWC

By Suzanne MorrowcloseAuthor: Suzanne Morrow Name: Suzanne Morrow
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It would be a good time to buy. If I was a betting man I would get myself a load just now.

Shares in Palm Inc. jumped to a 52 week high this week ahead of the Mobile World Conference which kicks off on February 16 in Barcelona, Spain.

California-based Palm have seen their stock price sore this year ahead of the launch of the Palm Pre at the annual Consumer Electronics Conference (CES). Palm Inc. shares increased by 95 cents, or 11.8%, to $8.98. The day’s high of $9.28 was the highest share value in 52-weeks for the company.

Palm came out with the first Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) a decade ago but they’ve been lagging behind rivals like Nokia, Apple and Samsung who have brought out an increasing number of sophisticated handsets.

The Palm Pre will be available through US carrier Sprint by the end of this summer.

Green Theme at Mobile World Conference 2009

By Suzanne MorrowcloseAuthor: Suzanne Morrow Name: Suzanne Morrow
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It’s a green theme at this year’s Mobile World Conference.

LG are showcasing an eco-friendly prototype phone with a built-in solar panel, that’s made of recycled plastic. The phone will be showcased in an Eco-Friendly Zone within the WMC exhibition floor.

An Eco-Friendly Zone shows how much the environment has come to influence phone manufacturers and their marketing departments.

At Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show last month, Koren manufacturers LG Sky Charger went all-out with the eco-friendly product premiers. There were low carbon TVs, Sky solar charging tents and complimentary solar car chargers dished out in the  press room. This time around, their solar-powered phone boasts 3 minutes of call time after only 10 minutes of charging.

LG aren’t the only ones trying to cement themselves as a green company this year. Samsung will be showcasing their Blue Earth solar-powered, eco-friendly phone at the MWC.

They guarantee their pebble-like, ergonomic handset is energy efficient without the spec or the UI being deminished. With this one Samsung have one of the first solar-powered touch screen handsets that can keep up with the rest of the touch screens on the market.

Included in the phone is an accelerometer that calculates your steps as you walk and tells you how much CO2 would have been released had you made the journey by car. This is all shown by a cute display showing the number of trees you’ve saved on your journey.

The big manufacturers are taking the green theme and running with it. Companies like LG and Samsung may have the best of intentions but there is a real gap in the market for cheap solar-powered phones in areas where mobile uptake is only just taking off. Solar-powered phones are on a par with the clockwork radio in terms of how they could for improving the infastructuer of devloping countries.

A partnership between two relatively unknown companies, ZTE and Digicel, may change things. They’ve produced the world’s first solar-powered, low-cost handset that will allow those without access to electricity to open up their communications. The details on this one are still to be clarified but the press unveiling is next week so we’ll let you know the details as and when.

LG’s KM900 Handset Unveiled

By Suzanne MorrowcloseAuthor: Suzanne Morrow Name: Suzanne Morrow
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LG’s new LG Arena KM900 handset’s sure to put Apple’s nose out of joint.

The KM900 or ‘Arena’ is the  latest touchscreen from LG and like the majority of smart phones on the market, it has obvious iPhone influences.

What marks this one out its it’s revolutionary 3D screen. It’s rotating cube display, gives you 4 accessible screens from which to get to the phones different applications.

The specs include 7.2Mbit HSDA, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and native DivX, Xvid video support, 5Mp shooter, micro SDHC, Bluetooth and A2DP. As if that wasn’t enough there is a three inch touch screen and a 5 mega pixel camera for “DVD quality recording”.

Skott Ahn, president of LG Mobile had this to say about their latest addition to the range,

“The direct, intuitive, and dynamic S-Class UI will be unlike anything that has appeared on a mobile phone before,”

LG seem pretty serious about this one.

Hopefully, we’ll get some juicy video action of the phone doing it’s thang at the Mobile World Conference next week.

Samsung TouchWiz UI Getting a MWC Makeover

By Suzanne MorrowcloseAuthor: Suzanne Morrow Name: Suzanne Morrow
Email: suzannemorrow83@googlemail.com
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The Mobile World Conference is just around the corner and all the manufacturers are getting their best gear on and coming out to show off.

Samsung are no exception. The preemptive release of new handsets , prior to the conference, has got us all excited about what to expect over the four days in Barcelona.

As well as the Samsung Tocco handset unveiling this morning, Samsung’s Touch Whiz user interface is due for a revamp.

The intuitive interface gives you 3D effects on your phone’s display, enhanced  feedback with new gesture and voice controls and with the fashion for touch screens, improved gesture control is a very smart move on Samsung’s part.

Photo contact integration will also be improved on, with face recognition technology to better integrate your photos with your contacts.

We’ll keep you posted when we see the developments in action next week.