Top Ten Mobile Phone News Stories of the Week - 2nd January.

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Andrew Boxall in Mobile Phone Round-up

Happy New Year!  Welcome to the first weekly roundup of 2009, sharing the top mobile phone stories hitting the news with all our readers.  This week we have a host of international mobile phone releases, many of which we’d love to have here!  Let’s take a look.

1.  Leaked Pictures of Samsung S8300.

The Samsung S8300 is a slider/touchscreen mobile phone rumoured to be released around March, although it’s not known if this will be a European or Asian release.  The big news is the large touchscreen is an OLED item which offers better contrast with less power draw, in addition to this, the S8300 has an 8 megapixel camera, GPS and 3G HSDPA.

2.  New Nokia Arte Series Extravagance.

Nokia have added a new model to their gorgeous Arte range of luxury mobile phones.  Based on the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte, the new 8800 Gold Arte replaces the carbon finish with 18-carat gold and … continue reading "Top Ten Mobile Phone News Stories of the Week - 2nd January."

World First: LG’s watch mobile phone

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Patrick in Mobile Phone News

As convergent technology becomes more and more popular, LG have decided to push their luck with the first ever watch-like video mobile phone.

The LG - GD910, has a 3.63-centimetre screen and is 13.9 millimetres thick, so this handset has successfully been scaled down to the size of a designer watch. To make a call, there is a touchscreen dialing system similar to that on the iPhone. But smaller.

It comes with a built-in camera, MP3 player and speaker as expected from a new mobile on the market.

With the use of a high speed internet connection, you will even be able to make … continue reading "World First: LG’s watch mobile phone"

Mobile Phone Rail Tickets Regulated

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Patrick in Mobile Phone News

While this story doesn’t sound the most exciting, the implications of a new standardised form of electronic rail tickets that can be displayed on mobile phones, means that our handsets now have yet another function to make life a bit easier.
The Association of Train Operating Companies have signed an agreement that will allow all main rail operators to be able to sell e-tickets that you can display on your mobile phone. The ticket will appear as a 2D barcode.

E-tickets in the past used propreitary encoding, which meant it would only work on the issuing operator’s network.

This new system now means that you will be able to use the same ticket throughout the … continue reading "Mobile Phone Rail Tickets Regulated"

BackStopp: Clear personal data on your stolen mobile

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Patrick in Mobile Phone News

As mobile phones become smarter and more able to store sensitive data like all of those documents you needed to give to your accountant or the details of everyone’s social security numbers, the need for extra security has made many a headline in the news as of late.

While many of us have set passwords on our phones, this won’t really help for a smartphone or PDA that is already switched on. Enter BackStopp, a piece of software that will ensure the secure deletion of data and files on your mobile phone when you realise it has been lost or stolen.

The application will use GPS to locate where the phone is. Once you realise that your mobile has been stolen, you can notify Backstopp who will issue a theft message to police.

The self destruct sequence will then start to … continue reading "BackStopp: Clear personal data on your stolen mobile"

Extra cheap £9 tariff on 3

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Patrick in Mobile Phone News

The post-Christmas sales have started early for mobile network 3, as it has just announced the first UK mobile tariff for under a tenner.

Its new £9 tariff may be cheap, but 3 haven’t been stingy with what you get for the equivalent of 3 coffees at Starbucks.

For your money, you will receive a decent amount of free minutes, free instant messaging, free Skype calls and best of all a free 3G phone too.

To be specific, you will get … continue reading "Extra cheap £9 tariff on 3"

When Not To Use Your Phone

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Luke McKinney in Funny Mobile Stuff

It might seem odd for us to tell you not to use your phone.  After all, phones and the manifold uses thereof are kind of our entire deal here at “Dial-a-phone”, so when a company whose name is made of phones and phone-related verbs tells you not to things must be pretty serious.  Which they were for the following:

1.  When you’re driving.  On Mars

That you shouldn’t be on the phone while you’re on the road is common sense.  What might not be so obvious is that the rule applies even where there aren’t any roads.  The Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars can roll around the red desert or go all E.T. and phone home, but not both at once.  Pointing the communications dish at NASA requires a … continue reading "When Not To Use Your Phone"

iPhone Camera As Popular As The Real Thing

Posted January 2nd, 2009 by Patrick in Mobile Phone News

The huge range of apps on the iPhone has lead to speculation that it’s more of a gaming handset or MP3 player than a phone. Well statistics are now supporting the idea that it may be more of a camera than a phone.

According to social photo gallery site Flickr, the iPhone is the fifth most popular camera to upload to the site. This means that out of all of the Nikons and Canons out there, a mobile phone has trumped their efforts in capturing moments worthy of social networking.

The reason for this may simply be that the iPhone’s … continue reading "iPhone Camera As Popular As The Real Thing"

2008’s Mobile Phone Highlights!

Posted December 31st, 2008 by Andrew Boxall in Mobile Phone Handsets

If you’re a mobile phone fan, 2008 has been a bumper year, with many exciting new handsets reaching the market.  It’s hard to choose the ‘best’ of the year, or even our favourite, so instead of pondering for hours we present our top ten/best of/favourite mobile handset releases of 2008 all in one list.  So, in no particular order, here they are!

Samsung i900 Omnia

Released in the middle of the year, the Omnia i900 was the first Samsung mobile phone to feature a Windows Mobile operating system, which thankfully was the much-improved 6.1 version.  One of two WinMo handsets on our list, we love the DivX video support, up to 16GB of storage and the feeling you’ve got your entire office at your disposal in one, handy device.

Samsung F480 Tocco

Although we saw it at the beginning of 2008 and had to wait until Q2 to actually get our hands on one, the Samsung F480 Tocco was worth the wait.  It introduced us to the TouchWiz interface and a touchscreen interface which wasn’t slow and unresponsive, plus Samsung managed to squeeze HSDPA and a 5 megapixel camera into the … continue reading "2008’s Mobile Phone Highlights!"

Mobile Phone News Awards for 2008!

Posted December 24th, 2008 by Andrew Boxall in Mobile Phone News

 Dial-a-Phone presents a series of awards based around the top mobile phone news stories, releases and gossip of the past year.  However, if you’re looking for ‘Best Phone’ or similarly dreary content, you may be disappointed…

Mobile Movie Star of 2008.

Nominees:  The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (for The Dark Knight), Sony Ericsson C902 (for Quantum of Solace) and the Apple iPhone 3G (for Sex and the City).
The Winner:  The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic!

At first glance, this is a tough category to judge, however, when one looks at the movies in question, a clear winner emerges.  The iPhone is featured in the big screen version of Sex and the City, however when Carrie was handed the phone in question, she proclaimed ‘I don’t know how to work this’.  Oh dear, she needs to see our Mobile Operating System of the Year award.  The Sony Erisson C902 was in Quantum of Solace, but since the entire movie was filmed with the … continue reading "Mobile Phone News Awards for 2008!"

Festive Phone Fanciness

Posted December 24th, 2008 by Luke McKinney in Funny Mobile Stuff

You’re old enough to know the truth about Santa, but you may want to suspend your disbelief for a minute.  It’s the traditional time for drooling over uber-enticing hardware, and a magic-powered fat man distributing free gifts from a sub-zero base is your most likely chance of getting your hands on some of this gear:

1.  Diamond iPhone Case

For some people the iPhone just isn’t expensive enough - they made millions of the things, after all, and now when they whip out their white wafer to wow their peers there’s a terrible risk somebody else will have one too.  Then they’ll start comparing applications, and nobody wants that.

Now anybody with more money than sense can take back that expensive edge with the “Diamond Case“, thirteen thousand pounds of gold and diamond to armour your iPhone against the plebeian masses.  That’s pounds sterling, not weight, but it’s almost as impractical either way.  With 3.5 karats of diamond and 18 of gold, it might make more … continue reading "Festive Phone Fanciness"