Coming soon: The Sony Ericsson W705

Initially starting life as sub genre of the main product range (for instance the W800 was basically a re-branded K750i), the Sony EricssonWalkman range now commands your attention on its own. The latest addition to the Walkman range, the Sony Ericsson W705 is certainly no different with a spec list that doesn’t look out of place amongst the mobile elite, all packed into a phone that simply oozes class. The slide phone catches your eye with a striking brushed metal finish that looks stunning in silver. This is complimented by a comfortable size that is still small enough not to be a burden but big enough for a pleasurable user experience. But enough about what the phone looks like, with the expected release just over a month away, why should we be getting excited about the W705?

Well first things first, the W705 is clearly a music phone through and through (as if the Walkman branding didn’t give it away!) so what have Sony Ericsson got in store for us? Well, Sony’s award winning audio technology promises to deliver sound quality in its purest form thanks to Clear Bass, Clear Stereo and premium headphones. SensMe lets you create playlists based on mood, Shake control lets you change track or volume with a flick of your wrist, TrackID finds the name and artist from simply recording a few seconds of a track, an FM radio lets you tune in to all your favourite stations and support for the PlayNow arena, Sony Ericsson’s new music store, lets you download the latest tracks straight to your phone. All your music is managed in the Walkman player which lets you shuffle, sort and play all your music and supports a wealth of file formats including MP3 and AAC.

So the W705 has music well and truly covered, but what else is hiding under that smooth, shiny exterior? Well for those who love to browse the internet, HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity have got you covered offering high speed internet at the push of a button. What’s more, the excellent web browser is complimented by the ability to stream video from popular sites such as YouTube. If photography is your thing, the 3.2 Megapixelcamera should be more than adequate featuring digital zoom and video recording. Memory on the phone is a respectable 120MB which is expandable up to 8GB (and is likely to arrive with a 4GB card in the box). To round it off, the Sony Ericsson W705 features Bluetooth v2.0 and support for 3D gaming making it an excellent all rounder and much more than just a music phone.

Sony Ericsson F305 coming soon: Taking mobile gaming to the next level

Sony Ericsson’s latest phone, the Sony Ericsson F305, is a phone that delivers a world class handheld gaming experience in a sleek and stylish mobile phone. Gone are the days when dedicated gaming phones were awkward and cumbersome, the F305 is a classy slide phone that comes in a subtle silver case. Taking some of the Sony experience on board with their Playstation heritage and with more than just a nod to the Nintendo Wii, the F305 features full motion sensitive gaming for hours of fun. Swing, shake and swipe your way through a host of different games with Bowling, Fishing and Horse riding all pre-installed on the F305 and further titles set to be available for download.

Away from gaming, theF305 features everything you would expect from a new mobile phoneincluding an impressive 2.0 Megapixel camera with video recording capabilities and an MP3 player withSony Ericsson’s popular TrackID application which finds artist and album information from a short music clip that you record. Hear a song you like, simply open TrackID, record a few seconds and the phone will find out who it’s buy and take you to the music store to download it. Elsewhere this cool compact slider has an FM radio to boost its music potential and despite only having 10 MB of internal memory, is complimented with a memory card slot supporting up to 4GB for storage of extra games and music, not to mention video.

Set for launch in the next couple of months, the F305 sets to be the start of an interesting new twist for mobile gaming. Whether the F series will develop into a gaming range similar to the Walkman W range and Camera C series is unconfirmed but, if the upcoming F305 is anything to go by, it would definitely be an exciting proposition.

Nokia 5800 : Nokia’s first full touchscreen mobile phone!

Just in case the title didn’t give it away, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia’s eagerly awaited first full touchscreen phone, has been launched. The 5800, formerly known as the Tube, was first spotted early last year and even made a cameo in the recent Batman film The Dark Knight before it had even been officially announced which surely got people chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. But why should you care? What’s so special about the 5800? Well it does feel like it’s been in production for an eternity so lets refresh our memories and remind ourselves why the Nokia 5800 is such an exciting newphone.

The Nokia 5800 is Nokia’s first full touchscreen mobile phone (yes we do know they make touchscreen internet tablets and no we don’t count them as proper phones). As such, there was a lot riding on the user experience of the 3.2 inch TFT touchscreen but thankfully it exceeds expectations. The touchscreen is responsive and tactile enough to keep up with even the fastest of fingers but forgiving enough for those who are taking their first steps into the touchscreen world. Of course in 2009, a phone has to try a little harder to get our attention and luckily the 5800 has enough under its bonnet to mix it with the big boys.

The 5800 XpressMusic takes itself seriously as an internet device (possibly drawing from the internet tablet heritage) thanks toHSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity putting high speed web browsing at your finger tips. Couple this with an impressive web browser and the excellent display (with built in accelerometer for rotating the screen) and you’ve got yourself one powerful internet device. Elsewhere, the 5800 supports numerous music and video file formats and comes bundled with an 8GB memory card giving you somewhere to store 1000’s of tracks and hours of video. And if photography is your thing, the 5800 features a 3.2 Megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, Autofocus and digital zoom plus video capture at 30 frames per second. And finally for those of you who like to get out and about, the 5800 has a built in GPSreceiver with Nokia Maps pre-installed.

Have i forgotten anything? Probably. The 5800 is packed full of top of the range features which firmly cement it as one of the phones of 2009 and definite contender for best touchscreen mobile phone. 

Nokia’s Latest Little Gizmo: The Locate Sensor

At CES (the worlds largest consumer electronics tradeshow) 2009 which took place on Jan 12th, Nokia announced a new project cooked up by the Nokia Research Centre, the ‘Nokia Locate Sensor’. A prototype service designed to help ensure you never lose anything. You simply attach a physical wireless location tag (the little green gizmo pictured to the right) to stuff such as your keys or wallet,and if you drop anything or it gets nicked from your pocket the accompanying Nokia Locate Sensor application on yourphone points you in the direction of the item and even tells you how far away it is.

The tiny Locate Sensor tag can be attached and modified to be fixed to any sort of item you can think of and because of its size it can go pretty much unnoticed. The phone application itself will support up to 100 items so you would never be able to use the excuse “sorry I’m late, I couldn’t find my….” ever again.

If you drop something the phone application is designed to automatically alert you and help you hone in on the object within a distance of up to 100 metres. So, how does it work? Well, It transmits a simple signal and doesn’t use GPS to locate the misplaced items we know that much, so it can be used inside and isn’t a battery killer. The actual technology Nokia use is still not mentioned but if we had to guess we’d have to bank on Bluetooth.

Another smart use for Nokia Locate Sensor is that it can be tweaked to work the opposite way round, so if you have a tag on your person you can set it so that if your phone is lost or goes further than say 3 metres away from you, it immediately disables the handset and re-enables it when it re-enters your selected vicinity.

Nokia say it can operate flawlessly up to 18 months before you need to recharge it, but if the tag is made bigger it could theoretically accommodate a bigger battery and longer life. It’s such a simple idea, and innovative to the mobile market. The application looks as if it works brilliantly, if we can believe the news coming out of the tradeshow. It’s definitely the smartest little gadget to make an appearance so far this year… that’s probably not giving it enough credit, as we haven’t even made it to February, however I think you get the point… it’s a great little device to start the year with.

Samsung S8300 spotted: 8 Megapixel Soul anyone?

With two 8.0 Megapixel camera phones already under their belt, you’d think Samsung might kick back and relax. After all, they were the first company to launch an 8.0 Megapixel camera phone in Europe with the Samsung i8510 a definite contender for phone of the year in 2009. But no, hot on this success, Samsung have been busy working of the latest addition to their already impressive range. The Samsung S8300 looks to be a natural upgrade to theSamsung Soul thanks to a slim slider form factor measuring in at just 12.8mm thick. With the Samsung S8300 still under wraps at Samsung HQ and yet to see an official announcement, what else do we know about this newest 8.0 Megapixel camera phone?

Well, firstly the camera is complimented by Autofocus and an LED flash but what else? Expect Face and Smile recognition to also make their way into that sleek exterior as well as high resolution video capture as seen on the Pixon. Away from the camera, the S8300 is an HSDPA mobile phonemeaning high speed web browsing is at your finger tips, though Wi-Fi is unconfirmed at present. GPS is also included though whether it will be the full fat version as seen in the i8510 or only suitable for Geotagging like that on the Pixon is unclear. To round it off, a multimedia player with MP3/ MPEG4 and DivX (high quality video) support plus Bluetooth v2.1 should make the S8300 a formidable multimedia phone.

Palm Pre: Thinking ahead is a beautiful thing

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas,mobile phone developer Palm wowed the crowds with the announcement of the Palm Pre, a brand new touchscreen mobile phone with stunning looks and a brand new operating system to boot. Palm, previously responsible for bringing us the popular Treo range of smartphones, have raised excitement levels through the roof with their brand new operating system WebOS. WebOS promises to deliver smartphone features in a consumer friendly package. Capable of performing tasks that we expect from a smart phone such as running multiple applications, installing new ones and customising shortcuts and program locations, it’s the new additions that look to set WebOS apart in an already crowded market.

Want an example of how WebOS will make your life easier? Let’s say you’ve added an important meeting to your calendar. The Palm Pre will detect if you are going to be late to the meeting using GPS to track your location and traffic updates to determine how long your journey will take and then send an email to your assistant/ colleagues to inform them that you will be late for the meeting. Impressive…if a little bit creepy. It’s features like this that could see the Palm Pre becoming the phone of choice for businesses in 2009. Away from the operating system, the Palm Pre looks to be a promising piece of kit. The 3.1 inch touchscreen display with an accelerometer for auto screen rotation certainly looks reminiscent of the iPhone 3G but Palm have got a trick up their sleeve; a slide out QWERTY keyboard that is bound to keep all those email and text fanatics happy.

3G Connectivity and Wi-Fi add high speed internet to the mix and the aforementioned GPS will sound good to SatNav fans. And for those interested in something a bit more fun, the Pre packs in a 3.2 Megapixel camera which should provide ample fire power in the photography stakes and a comprehensive multimedia player that will support a host of audio and video file formats to help boost the Pre’s credentials as a multimedai phone. Whether the Palm Pre will match the hype that is currently surrounding it depends on the user experience. If Palm can nail down those futuristic features that the WebOS is capable of, in a user friendly easy to use experience, then they’ll be on to a winner.

Sony Ericsson announce C510 Cybershot and C905 software update!

Sony Ericsson have made an announcement that will come as music to the ears of camera phone fans everywhere with their latest press release. Firstly, there is the announcement of the new Sony Ericsson C510 Cybershot, an entry level camera phone that promises to bring high end camera features to the masses. And secondly, there is the news that the Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot, Sony Ericsson’s first foray in to the world of 8 Megapixel camera phones, will get a software update that will bring a whole host of improvements to that already impressive camera.

The Sony Ericsson C510 Cybershot features a 3.2 Megapixel camera, which, while slightly underpowered when compared to it’s bigger brother the C902 and the flagship C905, manages to pack in some new technology. First off, there is the addition of Smile Shutter, a clever piece of technology (also known as smile detection) that automatically takes the photo when it detects your subject smiling. Then there is the upgraded face detection that is capable of focusing on up to three peoples faces. And lastly there is support for Snapfish, a service that lets you send print orders for Snapfish to professionaly print and deliver to your home!

In addition to the excellent camera features, the C510 also a competent music player with the usual Sony Ericsson extras such as TrackID to compliment support for a variety of file types and expandable memory. Video recording and uploading to YouTube is also supported to further cement the C510’s multimedia credentials. Connectivity is covered by HSDPAmobile broadband but sadly no Wi-Fi, though for the price this is expected so sell for this is hardly surprising. Lastly, the C510 includes the must have feature of the moment; an accelerometer for all kinds of motion based gaming goodness.

As for the C905 software update, Sony Ericsson have stated that the main benefits will include Smile Shutter which will give the C905’s camera Smile detection support, full YouTube support, WayFinder 8 for GPS Navigation, the aforementioned Snapfish and finally SMS/MMS conversation style which gives users an overview of the whole conversation at a glance. Due to start shipping pre-installed on the C905 next month, fear not if you’ve already got yours as Sony Ericsson have also stated this will be available for download on their website in mid February.

New Mobile Phones too advanced for users?

Well, that is according to the findings of US based consultancy firm Mformation who found that 85% of those surveyed reporting they had been frustrated with the complexity of getting a new mobile phone up and running. Furthermore, 61% of the people questioned said that they would stop using an application if they could not get it working straight away. Can this be true? Are we really a bunch of technophobes baffled by the technology of our mobile phones? Personally i would like to defend the British public against this accusation and say NO!

Firstly, 4000 people were surveyed in both the UK and the US for this research; a drop in the ocean considering there are over 45 million mobile phone numbers registered in the UK alone meaning that a sample this small is hardly scientific. The US mobile phone market is still quite far behind the European market in terms of technology, with the Motorola V3 still one of the most popular phones available. I think you’d agree that anyone using a V3 might be slightly confused making the step up to a current phone. So are the US participants in this survey bringing the rest of us down? Perhaps this is a bit harsh but considering that 2 year contracts are the norm across the pond, mobile users in the US certainly don’t have the luxury of regular mobile phone upgrades meaning the difference in technologies found on their current phone and their next purchase could be vast.

But what evidence is there to prove that users in the UK are getting the most out of there phones? Mformation spokesperson Matthew Bancroft suggested “There is an enormous range of things modern phones are capable of doing but the paradox is that many people are not using these capabilities”. A fair assesment? Well, as previously covered on this blog, the iPhone was the fifth most popular camera used to upload pictures on social photo gallery site Flickr, outranking stand alone digital cameras, which proves that, far from baffling its users, the iPhone is being used for web browsing, social networking and file sharing. And on the subject of social networking, the big two names in the game Facebookand MySpace have both set up mobile friendly versions of their sites due to overwhelming demand from users. Still on the subject of the iPhone, surely the huge popularity of the App store is proof that mobile users are embracing new technologies and applications.

And what about new features on new phones, are these too complex for us? Well Manufacturers have clearly thought of this; Nokia include a help programme in all of their Symbian smartphones similar to that found on a Windows PC. Simply choose the action you wish to perform and you’ll be given a simple explanation of how to perform it. And in there latest range of touchscreen mobile phones Samsung include Widgets which are basically interactive shortcuts that sit on your home screen meaning you don’t have to trawl through menus to get what you’re after.

And, in an effort to encourage brand loyalty and ease the burden of getting your new phone just the way you like it, Nokia include switch software which lets you pair your old and new phone by Bluetooth an then pull all your contacts, messages, calendar entries and multimedia files over to the new phone.

So personally i have to disagree with the findings of this research and say that new phones are most definitely not too baffling for us. But what do you think? Could mobile phone manufacturers make it easier on us? What are your pet peeves when upgrading to a newer phone? Use the comments section below to get it all off your chest…

Apple announce DRM free iTunes and over the air 3G iTunes downloads for the iPhone 3G!

Apple have kick started the new year by announcing that all songs on its iTunes music service will be available without copy protection, potentially enabling them to be played on any MP3 player. Previously, most tracks bought through iTunes could only be played via the programme itself or on Apple’s branded iPods. The move means that Apple, who are the biggest music vendor in the world having sold over 6 billion songs, actually first went DRM-free with the launch of “iTunes Plus” in May 2007, but only with tracks from EMI. Since then rival competitors, such as Amazon, 7digital and Play.com, have offered a wider range of DRM-free music so the time has now come for Apple to expand and compete in new market areas.

Apple revealed that with immediate effect, eight million iTunes tracks will be offered without restrictive digital rights management, with a further two million to be offered in what Apple calls “iTunes Plus” by the 1st of April. Making the announcement at the Macworld technology show in San Francisco, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing Phil Schiller, also said that from April 1st, music will either cost 59p, 79p or 99p per song, rather than the current flat-rate of 99p. That move is thought to be in line with the wishes of record labels, who have previously sought to charge variable prices, but have resisted the move towards music without so-called Digital Rights Management.

This change, however, will only affect new purchases from the iTunes store, so consumers who have previously built up a library on their computers will face the daunting prospect of now having to pay to upgrade their music to the new format. A spokesperson for Apple said: “iTunes offers customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price”. This works out to around 20 pence per song here in the UK.

Many music players and mobile phones, too, will still not be able to play songs in the format Apple is using, because the company will continue to use its proprietary “AAC” files, rather than changing to the more universal MP3 format. The change, however, is likely to spur many hardware manufacturers to update their products.

In addition, Schiller announced that over the air 3G iTunes downloads would now be available for iPhone 3G owners. Basically this means that iPhone 3G users can now preview and purchase anything from the entire iTunes Store music catalogue on their phone via their 3G network, just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price and in the same high quality format. Apple also announced a web-based version of its group of business applications, iWork.com, in a move that could see it rival companies such as Google and Microsoft, and unveiled a new 17” laptop computer.

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalogue of over 10 million songs, over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films including over 600 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

Android market gets paid apps: good or bad news?

Since the launch of the T-Mobile G1 late last year, theAndroid Market (the Google phones answer to Apples app store) has hosted some intriguing applications such as the much publicised and highly praised Barcode scanner. Those of you who took the plunge with the HTCGoogle phone have been the envy of iPhone enthusiasts, enjoying a wealth of downloadable applications absolutely free. But all that is about to change with the announcement that softare developers will now be able to charge for downloaded content. Though it was already possible to fork out your hard earned cash for certain applications, the official shop front of the Android market has only ever offered free downloads. The best applications have, up until this point, been free but all this is about to change.

But before you sulk and discard your precious T-Mobile G1, consider the positives. The Apple App store has been charging for content since day one and has seen some of the most unique and innovative content ever found on a mobile phone. And i think this is in no small part to do with the monetary incentive on offer for developers to create new, exciting and of course popular apps. So the news that developers will get 70% (Google state the remaining 30% will cover server hosting costs) should encourage a new wave of creativity and innovation. Penciled in for Q1 of 2009, those of you who have been enjoying free downloads best get your fill, as time is running out. But it’s not all doom and gloom; look on the brightside and just think of the possibilities…

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic review: has Nokia kicked its rivals in to touch?

After much speculation and excitement surrounding Nokia’s first mainstream attempt at a touchscreen mobile phone, here atMobiles.co.uk we’ve managed to get our hands on the finished article; the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. So to put the 5800 through its paces and tell you what to expect of the first big phone of 2009, read on for our full review and the answers to all those burning questions. The first thing I’d like to point out is that this particular 5800 is the full retail unit and not a potentially buggy test sample or pre-release model. Not only does this mean that my experience will be the same as that of anyone who takes the plunge in late January when it launches, it also means the phone comes fully boxed with all the accessories and extras that will ship with the phone.

First impressions of the phone formerly known as Tube are overwhelmingly positive. Picking up the phone, the 5800 XpressMusic fits like a glove; the smooth rounded edges make it comfortable in hand, the soft touch plastic on the back gives a classy yet subtle effect and the highly polished material found on the front helps to emphasize the huge touchscreen display. Buttons are fairly minimal due to the aforementioned display. Below the screen we find the call answer, end and menu keys, on the right hand side we have the camera capture and zoom keys along with a sliding key lock button and finally on the top of the phone we have the power button. Also on the top of the phone we have the 3.5mm audio jack and USB port and on the left side is the memory card slot and, oddly enough, sim card slot. Why Nokia saw fit to include a hot swap sim card slot that doesn’t let you remove the sim once it’s in there is slightly baffling i must admit but, apart from that, the 5800 gets off to an impressive start.

Next to go under the microscope is unsurprisingly the 5800’s most publicised feature; the touchscreen display. The Nokia 5800 features a 3.2 inch TFT screen capable of displaying up to 16 million colours. The home screen presents you with a shortcut for the address book and your contacts and a second which brings up the numeric keypad for making calls. Opening the menu presents you with the familiar sight on most Nokia phones of the various icons, only this time simply tapping on an icon opens the desired application. The display is very responsive and thanks to the size of the screen doesn’t ask you to be too accurate. The 5800 is all about choice and this is certainly true when it comes to thetouchscreen. The 5800 lets you navigate with your fingers, the stylus that slides nicely in to the back of the phone or, for those who want to look a bit flash, a stylus shaped like a guitar pick/ plectrum that you can attach via the lanyard strap. Personally I found the stylus best for texting and emailing and used my finger tips for everything else but the beauty of the 5800 is everyone one will find a way to use it that suits them best. As a touchscreen phone the 5800 XpressMusic scores a direct hit; navigation is simple, fast, and responsive, haptic feedback (vibration on the screen confirming your actions) helps to keep you involved, the size makes everything clear and legible and the accelerometer lets you switch from portrait to landscape with no delay.

The 5800 is a powerful smartphone running on the Symbian operating system. Symbian has always been a popular and reliable operating system and when coupled with a fully touchscreen interface, comes into its own. The phone is quick and responsive when navigating through menus and opening and running multiple applications. As a smart phone, the 5800 will let you install 3rd party applications (such as the software used to take the screenshots found in this review). Doing so is easy; simply download the application on to a PC and drag and drop to the phone when connected via USB or download directly on the phone (but beware of data costs), install and away you go. The phone runs on Symbian Series 60 v9.4 meaning there are already a wealth of compatible applications available. Also expect a whole host of new games, downloads and applications that will utilise the touchscreen. The other benefit with running on the Symbian operating system comes from customisation. The phone will allow you to move the locations of folders and applications so you can put your favourite or most frequently used items in the main menu rather than hiding them away in a sub menu. The opposite can be done to things you don’t use.

The Nokia 5800 is simply begging to be taken online thanks to HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity offering high speed browsing and downloads. Once you’ve got there you’ll be pleased to find that the 5800 has a web browser that is more than capable of meeting your needs. The screen can be turned to landscape to give you a nice wide point of view, scrolling down web pages is done by simply dragging your finger along the scroll bar and you can fit it to fill the whole screen or have a condensed version with a tool bar. In the options menu you’ll find features such as zoom, bookmark, homepage settings and much more that you’d more expect to find on your laptop or PC rather than your phone. I found the web browser a joy to use but once again the 5800’s personalisation options come in to play because if you don’t like the web browser, you can download and install a new one!

As if the XpressMusic name doesn’t give it away, the 5800 takes music very seriously. The phone has 80MB of onboard memory which doesn’t sound particularly impressive next to the iPhone’sand i8510’s of the mobile phone world but thankfully the phone comes with an 8GB memory card included in the box. For those who crave more memory the 5800 will support a 16GB memory card opening up the possibility of space for thousands of music tracks. In terms of the music player interface, it’s very much business as usual. You can browse the music library by artist, album, genre and so on giving you a music experience to rival the best of the music phone world. The phone will support a wealth of file formats from AAC to MP3 and beyond plus the finished product will ship with some excellent stereo in ear headphones complete with a remote adaptor to control the music player when the phone is tucked away in your pocket. Best of all, the phone features a 3.5mm audio output jack so you can bring your own headphones to the party. But to describe the 5800 as a music phone is selling it short; the phone can handle video with equal finesse. The phone earns its codename the Tube thanks to support for MPEG4, WMV and 3gp video playback covering pretty much all the major file formats. The 5800 is a formidable multi media phone and to cement this, Nokia have generously included a video stand that the phone sits in giving you the perfect viewing position for long train or car journeys (though perhaps not if you’re driving). XpressMedia is a name that was kicking around before the 5800 was officially announced and it seems this would have been a far more appropriate moniker.

The camera found on the 5800 is a 3.2 Megapixel shooter which may sound slightly underpowered in the wake of the recent 8.0 Megapixel camera phone wave but thanks to a Carl Zeiss lens and autofocus, it still manages to deliver the goods. Dedicated camera buttons for capture and zoom are found on the right side of the phone and holding the phone in landscape with the excellent 3.2 inch display makes for the perfect viewfinder. Other features include a powerful flash, 3x digital zoom and a range of capture and scene settings such as night mode. The 5800 also captures video at 30 frames per second removing any undesired choppy or jumpy frames in the video and making for a smooth enjoyable viewing experience.

The phone also has a GPS receiver with A-GPS support and includes Nokia maps. The standard Nokia maps is ideal for on foot navigation, route planning and finding addresses. Paying a subscription based fee will also add voice guided navigation and unlock the 5800’s true SatNav potential. In terms of what’s in the box, Nokia certainly have gone all out to impress. In the finished article you can expect to find a rubberised case, mains charger, USB cable, TV out lead, spare stylus, plectrum stylus and lanyard, headphones, video stand, software CD, 8GB memory card and of course, the phone itself. Not what you would call stingy, something we hope other manufacturers will sit up and take note of.

So what of Nokia’s first entrant into the mainstream touchscreen market? Well in my two weeks using the phone, I was quite simply bowled over. The 5800 is jam packed full of great features, some of which will blow you away and others that you wont really notice until they’re gone (I want a plectrum stylus!). I just didn’t want to give it back. The combination of the Symbian Nokia interface (that we know and love) with an exciting and intuitive control method thanks to the touchscreen make for a winning partnership and what is sure to be the first major success story of 2009.

Pink LG Cookie surfaces: cheap touchscreen for the ladies!

Following the huge success of the LG Cookie, the Budgettouchscreen phone thats low on cost but high on features, LGhave added a feminine flavour with the announcement of thePink LG Cookie. And isn’t it pretty?! The LG Cookie won us over when it launched last year thanks to a solid and stylish design, excellent list of features and suprisingly low cost. LG certainly know how to tackle the credit crunch! Originally launched in Black, the star performer for the LG Cookie was the excellent 3 inch touchscreen display featuring an accellorometer which changes the orientation of the screen depending on which way it’s held, Handwriting recognition and the excellent flash user interface as seen on the LG Viewty. But the Cookies features don’t stop there…

The KP500 Cookie features an impressive 3.0 Megapixel camera with digital zoom and video recording capabilities and is intuitive to use thanks to the large touchscreen interface. Elsewhere the Cookie includes an MP3 player with support for a wealth of different file formats, Bluetooth v2.1 which offers faster file transfer speeds and music streaming, document viewer, 48MB of internal memory and a microSD slot for expanding the memory even further making the Cookie the perfect multimedia phone. And now with the announcement of the new Pink Cookie, those of you who found the minimalistic design of the original a bit on the boring side can show off in style! The Pink LG Cookie is expected to launch in late January, click here to register your interest and keep an eye on the Blog for further updates.

Brand new Black Nokia N96 in stock!

With the original N96 still wowing owners who took the plunge back in September when it launched, this new version does away with the silver trim found on the side in favour of an all Black exterior. The result? The N96 looks even better, the all black paint job helps to give a smooth and classy finish compared to the original which, in my opinion, looked slightly disjointed with the two colours. It also means that you’re not distracted from the excellent 2.8 inch display.

Other than the updated colour, it’s business as usual for theBlack N96 in terms of features. Connectivity is covered withHSDPA mobile broadband and Wi-Fi ensuring you get the best and more importantly quickest connection possible. For multimedia, the excellent Nokia media player is complimented by a whopping 16GB of internal memory that can be expanded up to a further 16GB with a memory card. 32GB phone? Yes please. What’s more, the brilliant web browser and powerful Symbian operating system is even able to handle BBC iPlayer, the BBC catch up service that lets you watch all your favourite show on the Beeb from the previous week. Elsewhere, a 5.0 Megapixel camera with Autofocus and zoom and a Carl Zeiss lens makes for the perfect camera, video recording at 30 frames per second will help those budding Steven Spielberg’s out there and the bundled PC software makes uploading your clips a piece of cake!

Anything else? Well GPS SatNav with the popular Nokia Maps software finds its way to the party (see what i did there? Find…SatNav? Don’t worry) as does the dual slide design that hides the media keys and best of all a funky little kick stand that disguises itself as part of thecamera lens and transforms the N96 into a portable movie player! Seriously tempted by this back in September when it was first launched, this new all Black revamp might be just enough to put my trusty N82 back in its box and embrace the N96.

12 Megapixel Camera phones on the horizon: Could be as early as April!

With the dust finally starting to settle after the flurry of 8 Megapixel camera phones that launched late last year, it’s time to take a look forward to see what 2009 has in store for those snap happy camera phone fanatics amongst us. You know who you are. The first feature that is most likely due for upgrade is inevitably the Megapixel count. Sony recently launched a press release stating that it had completed development on a new type of CMOS image sensor that offers the industry’s smallest unit cell size and highest Megapixel count with up to 12.25 Megapixel available. 12 Megapixel camera phones? You bet. It’s also rumoured that Samsung are working on a 12 Megapixel sensor of their own to rival that of Sony’s, which sounds believable as, if we cast our minds back, Samsung were the first to launch an 8.0 Megapixel cameraphone in Europe with theSamsung i8510.

But, as any camera enthusiast will no doubt tell you, it’s not all about Megapixel count. So what else can we expect camera phones of 2009 to be armed with? With Face and Smile detection already available on the likes of the Samsung Pixon, LG Renoir andSony Ericsson C905, what else is left? Well, if we take a look at the digital camera world, quite alot. Multiple face detection is a likely addition whereby the camera will recognise and focus multiple targets rather than just one. Red eye correction which is fairly self explanatory could also feature and personally, as a previous owner of the Nokia N93, i think optical zoom would be a welcome addition. Digital cameras also feature a much wider range of selectable scenes to ensure you get the best results in every situation. Anti Blur and noise reduction are also two features that are big in the digital camera world and ripe for the transition over to the camera phone world.

The above is of course nothing more than speculation until someone comes out and says what they intend to do with the aforementioned 12 Megapixel sensors. What we do know is that this year promises to be an exciting one in the development of camera phones and, if industry insiders are anything to go by, could be on the market as early as April! Yes, this April!

As ever, keep an eye on the Blog for phone news and updates and keep your eyes and ears open for the announcement of the first 12 Megapixel camera phone!