Author: Leigh Geary

Find a parking space easier with the NCP Android app

Parking your car is always a little stressful. Here in the UK those parking bays seem to get slimmer and slimmer whilst the cost of leaving your car gets higher and higher. Oh, and don’t be a couple of minutes late coming back to your car either, because …

Nokia and Microsoft Party – Sea Ray Launch?

Arne over at The Unwired has just received this invite to a “Nokia and Microsoft Party” which takes place in just a couple of weeks time. There’s free food, free drink and a raffle too. Heck, if they had jelly and ice cream we’d be hammering down the …

White Galaxy SII to arrive on Vodafone too

Looking for the rather splendid Samsung Galaxy SII ? Want it in white ? Well, we know already that Three will be selling the white version but now Vodafone will be too. A Voda representative told SoMobile that.. Yes, we will be getting the white Galaxy S2. Check …

Motorola Domino+ Snapped

Packing a 3.5″ HVGA display, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and powered by Android 2.3.4, this is the Motorola Domnio+. Also known as the XT531 it also has an 800MHz Qualcomm CPU and a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. This, obviously, is the white version, but there’ll also be …

Xperia Mini Pro showing on the Orange website

We got a good look at the all-new Xperia Mini handsets some months ago. The “Pro” model is powered by a 1GHz CPU and has a 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS, 3″ screen, 3.5mm audio port, WiFi and 1200mAh battery. Despite …

Facebook – Are you addicted ? Is it a buying decision ?

We’ve already been lucky enough to review phones that want to change people like me. Our review of the HTC ChaCha and look at the HTC Salsa revealed that these phones were more than just texting devices with a Facebook button. A social connection was deeply woven into …

Apple has more cash to spend than the United States Government

Apple destroyed those rumours and overtook Nokia and Samsung as the worlds biggest seller of smartphones. Apple shipped 20.3 million smartphones between April and June 2011 with Samsung just behind on 19.2 million and Nokia on 16.7 million smartphones. Analysts were quick to pounce on Nokia, who are …

GMail Updated – Performance and possibly better battery life too

Battery improvements, priority mailbox sorting and a resulting lower data overhead are just some of the additions. The full list of additions are as follows… Save bandwidth and battery by only syncing priority mail Use label notifications to mash up filters, labels, and ringtones Remember ‘Show Pictures’ for …

Introducing Touchpal keypad for Android.

Sorry about this, but I’m posting another story about a Beta test app. This time it’s Touchpal. Touchpal was on Windows mobile devices a few years ago, but has recently not been around, yesterday they tweeted asking for beta testers for their new android keyboard. I quickly replied …

White Galaxy SII coming to Three

The white version of the Samsung Galaxy SII is coming to Three this September. The handset, which is superb in pretty much every way (no, really – check out our review) has Android 2.3, full HD (1080) video recording and 8.1 megapixel camera (with flash), the splendid Kies …

Windows Phone Build 7712 arrives for devs

Windows Phone “Mango” has been going great guns recently. The RTM build is now ready and today developers are seeing build 7712 appear on the phones. Although this isn’t the RTM build it’s fairly easy to install if you’re a developer, with Microsoft posting details here. We’ve had …

Samsung Galaxy Ace blessed with Android 2.3 on Three

Three have just pushed out Android 2.3 for Samsung Galaxy Ace users. This tweet has just been added to inform users, and we’d love to know if you’re one of the lucky ones updating now. Link – Twitter Credit – androiduknewsetc

Google Maps, now taking you around the Underground too

Google Maps has just been updated and now includes public transport directions. Available for iOS, Blackberry and Anddoid it’ll even get you around the tube with Transit Navigation (Beta). Find your destination, choose “Directions” and you’re off. If you’ve tried it to get around London by bus or …

Samsung shift 5 million Galaxy SII handsets to stores

Earlier this month Samsung announced that a staggering 3 million Galaxy SII units had sold around the world. Yes, you thought that was a lot didn’t you ? Try 5 million instead – that’s the number of handsets sold according to todays announcement, adding more credibility to suggestions …

Windows Phone Mango Released to Manufacturing

Following some eager rumours earlier this week we can now confirm that the new version of Windows Phone – “Mango” – is now ready for manufacturers. The “RTM” (Release to Manufacturing) build has been handed over and we now await news of updates and new devices this Autumn. …

Mozilla to create their own smartphone OS ?

We’ve got Android, Windows Phone and Apple iOS. However, another OS could be joining the list with Mozilla developing “Boot to Gecko” or B2G. It seems that Mozilla want to build their own OS with bits of Android and their own code. The intention, from what we can …

The JCB Phone testing lab – It’s a bit mental

A couple of days ago we were sent one of JCB’s Toughphones to test. No, we didn’t know that JCB made phones either, but they told us to chuck it in some water so we just had to give it a try. 🙂 There’s a whole range of …

HTC Bliss rendered image appears

Early images of the HTC Bliss have just appeared on the web, with Pocketnow showing the handset docked in a desktop cradle. It seems that the handset wirelessly charges whilst in the dock and displays pictures, date, time and possibly your calendar appointments too. It seems to match …

Horace Luke leaves HTC

Well, we weren’t expecting this. Chief Innovation Officer at HTC, Horace Luke, has left the company. We first Horace many years ago when he worked for Microsoft and we were bowled over by his ideas for Windows Mobile. He moved to HTC in 2006 and has worked on …

Soundbug2 Speakers on test

Recently we had an email about some funky wireless Bluetooth speakers by FeONIC. They turn any resonant surface into an thunderous entertainment system. It’s a simple matter of pairing and then, provided the speakers are on and within range, they’ll output your media. We gave them a try …

Andypad Pro in glorious high resolution

Apologies, this isn’t really a news story, but I know there is some interest in the Andypad. The Andypad is a tablet soon to be released (37 days away…) , aimed at the budget end of the market there are two versions, the Andypad and the Pro, The …

Bloomberg – Samsung Smartphone sales may beat the iPhone

Samsung are on a roll. Their Galaxy S2 is simply stunning and we’ve been suitably impressed by the Galaxy Ace. Today Bloomberg are reporting that Samsung handset sales are growing strongly… Samsung is estimated to have sold between 18 million and 21 million smartphones globally in the April-June …

Andy Pad Pro specs and pricing available

We recently saw the Andy Pad Pro appear on the web but didn’t get a whole lot of info about the “Pro” version. We know that the Andy Pad project and the original Andy Pad is a low-cost 7″ tablet with a Resistive 860×480 screen. The resistive screen …

The JCB Toughphone – just how tough is it ?

A couple of weeks ago we were sent a Samsung microSD card and asked to test the claim that it was shock proof, water prooft and dust proof. This week we got sent this JCB Toughphone Tradesman – it’s touted as being “military spec” and super-strong. It’s by …

comScore UK numbers reveal another drop in share for Microsoft

On Wednesday I took a train journey. It’s always a good place to people-watch – lots of people travel alone and tend to fiddle with their phones. Looking round I saw Android, Apple and Symbian… a HTC Hero, a HTC Desire, another HTC Desire, a iPhone, another iPhone, …

LG Roadmap blown open

A big truck full of LG handsets have just been revealed. They include a dual-core LG Prada with 4.3″ NOVA LCD screen, the LG Univa with an 800MHz CPU, the LG Victor with a 1GHz CPU with a 3.8″ OLED screen and the LG Gelanto which is now …

HTC Desire Z Update on Vodafone UK

Quick, check for updates ! If you’ve got the HTC Desire Z on Vodafone version 2.42.161.2 of Android 2.3.3 is now rolling. Steve has just mailed in to tell us that his Vodafone UK handset popped up with the update, but do let us know if yours if …

Deal – Cheap SanDisk 32GB microSD card

So, we know we’re asking for trouble here. We’ve no doubt that you’ll all chip in with better deals (which is great, by the way), but Amazon have this SanDisk 32GB microSD card for just £37.13. It was originally for sale for £133. Let us know if you’ve …

HTC Boss Prepares to Fight

HTC Boss, Peter Chou, has spoken to the BBC about the continuing patent battle with Apple. In the interview he says that the company will “make a stand” and are “confident that we have a strong case”. The recent Apple complaint pushed down the value of HTC shares …

Win an Andy Pad Pro

Andy Pad are giving away one of their Pro units (worth £169). To be in with a chance of winning just go to their Facebook page and “Like” them to enter. The Andy Pad Pro has a 1.2GHz CPU, 512MB or RAM and 16GB of storage. Link – …

So, that didn’t work then..

Our comments system broke again this week. Humble apologies for this. As I can’t personally blame it on my sloppy coding any more I’ll simply tell you the truth, it a combination of our content delivery network (CDN) and one of our older servers being disabled. We’ve recently …

Nokia posts ‘disappointing’ sales figures for Q2

No real surprise this, but today Nokia posted it’s Q2 figures and they are grim reading. The “Smart Devices” section saw a 33% drop in sales – down to €2.368 billion from €3.503 billion just a year ago. There was a total operating loss of (deep breath..) $692 …

Xperia neo now available on Orange too

The Sony Ericsson neo is now available on Orange. Specs are pretty high-end with a 3.7″ LED capacitive screen (854×480), 8 megapixel camera (with that low-light Exmor R technology), Android 2.3, WiFi, GPS and an FM radio. You also get Bluetooth, loads of sensors, HDMI and DLNA output …

Twitter and LinkedIn integration for Mango on video

Microsoft have just added a new video showing the LinkedIn and Twitter integration for their all-new Mango update. Windows Phone should, if this demo is anything to go by, clean up and organise your social media feeds. Check out the full overview below.. Credit – Mobile Tech World

Have you spotted a hidden mobile phone mast ?

Many moons ago we ran a story showing how mobile phone masts are disguised. Three were using several techniques to hide their kit and still are. Currently they have nearly 12,700 sites around the UK but their high frequency 3G spectrum can have problems penetrating buildings. The recent …

Apple posts record profit

It’s a company that continues to grow, but perhaps it’s the brand that is becoming the strongest part of the Apple portfolio. Record profits have been announced with the third quarter net income hitting £4.6 billion, a massive 125% higher than the same period just one year ago. …

Google+ now available for iOS.

Well finally all you Apple fans can get Google+ on your devices, Apple have today approved the G+ app and it’s available for download at the App store HERE. Available for iOS 3.1 and above, requires iphone 3G, 3GS and 4, no mention of ipad or ipod. Unsurprisingly this …

Nokia Sea Ray – Hands on

The Nokia Sea Ray has again appeared in video, this time in more up-close footage. The handset boots pretty quickly but the film ends all too quickly. The Sea Ray is running an RTM build of Mango so this is pretty close to final by the looks of …