For some time now there have been ‘rumblings’ of the so called BlackBerry Storm on the internet – the world’s first touch screen BlackBerry. Even with RIM having not officially said anything about the existence of this device there have been too many leaks of screen shots, mock ups, pre-launch literature and the like to ignore that this device is on the way. Continue reading »
In 2007, the EU set in place proposals for mobile phone customers to start benefiting from substantially reduced roaming charges when travelling between EU countries.
The European Union has finally decided to set a cap on roaming SMS charges. The new improved rates will be in place by next summer at a maximum of EUR 0.11. The costs for sending SMS whilst abroad is much higher with the current average roaming SMS cost at EUR 0.29 (23p) and can be as high as 63p. Continue reading »
A survey completed by data protection company Credant Technologies to gauge the frequency and ease with which mobile devices are lost in transit, have found that approx 60,000 or so mobile devices are left behind in London taxis. Continue reading »
Apple are making waves again this week in their App Store, though highlighted applciations such as ‘Sonic Lighter’ written by developer Smule, aren’t offering the levels of productivity we would like to see on this device.
Quirky applications such as Sonic Lighter certainly have a fun element to them, but they must be balanced with core productivity applications to make the iPhone as good a core business proposition as it is an excellent consumer device. There is a glimmer of light on the horizon with applications such as Bloomberg for iPhone, so we know the device is capable of business grade apps, it just appears that developers seem more keen to develop apps for consumers rather than enterprises – a balance which must be addressed if the iPhone is to firmly break in to the enterprise marketplace.
Google has released a new version of its popular mapping software for BlackBerry smartphones – Google Maps version 2.3.1, and it has some interesting new features which we’ll explore. Continue reading »
Popular Windows Mobile smartphone manufacturer HTC have announced that a white version of their Touch Diamond device will soon be available.
The ‘Ice White’ Touch Diamond carries nothing more than the original version which launched earlier in the summer, and merely follows the Apple school of facelifts (the same piece of equipment in a fresh new colour).
Research In Motion have announced their first clamshell BlackBerry device (codenamed ‘kickstart’) as the BlackBerry Pearl 8220.
The easiest way to describe the Pearl 8220 is to say that it’s a standard Pearl in a clamshell body. It has the same 240×320 display that you get on a Curve, it runs on EDGE networks (no 3G), has a removable SD card and utilises the same SureType keyboard. The Pearl 8220 also has a dual screens that allows you to read headers from incoming emails and SMS messages (and you can even flick through your unread message list) all from the outer display.
No carriers in Europe have been announced yet.
To see more images of the Pearl 8220 from RIM’s press kit, just click through. Continue reading »
Nokia’s latest multimedia centric phone (and replacement for the hugely successful N95), the N96, is about to get a mobile version of the popular BBC iPlayer application. Continue reading »
Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has predicted that its market share may reduce slightly over the coming financial quarter, although the company has stated it will increase overall during the year.
Blame for this blip is pinned on Nokia’s competitors who have undertaken a series of price cutting tactics to increase their own market shares.
“Nokia has not broadly participated in recent aggressive pricing activity as it believes that the negative impact to profitability would outweigh any short term incremental benefits to device unit sales,” read a company statement.
Despite the statement, the news saw Nokia’s share price fall by 10%.
We first saw the BlackBerry Bold at a meeting with Research In Motion earlier this year. The devices we saw back then were far from finished with their prototype plastics and had a battery which only lasted a couple of hours before recharging was required. Since then, as expected, much has changed and the Bold is now the slick hero product touted by RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis back in May. Continue reading »
