Going under the name Samsung Mobile Applications (catchy isn’t it), the initial focus will apparently be on the UK market (great news for us) with over 1000 apps reported to be available from the off, both paid and free. Things are sounding good but before we get too excited, let’s take a look at the cons. Firstly, Samsung don’t have one operating system. The i8510 runs on Symbian
Whether this rumour turns out to be true should become clear over the next couple of weeks and, if it does, it remains to be seen how Samsung will make it work with their tendency to keep alot of finger in alot of pies, from an operating system point of view. On the other hand, a bit of healthy competition for Apple and Android can only be a good thing.
When it comes to Touchscreen phones, LG are definitely at the forefront of the technology. With hugely successful phones such as the LG Viewty, the 8.0 Megapixel LG Renoir and the current top seller the LG Cookie, it’s safe to say that LG know a thing or to about touchscreen technology. And it would seem that they’re at it again with the LG Arena, with one leaked image already available and showing off what looks to be an incredible classy and stylish mobile phone.
Without a doubt the most popular style ofphone at the moment is the touchscreen mobile phone, coming in all different colours, sizes and with features to suit everyones need. And though a thousand and one different people will tell you that they weren’t the first to do it, the current popularity can certainly be attributed in some part to Apple and their much lovediPhone. Go back a few years and a touchscreen mobile phone would have been nothing more than a pipe dream, now touchscreen phones account for around 20% of all mobile phones on the market. So what futuristic feature could we look at now that could become the norm in the near future? What will be the touchscreen technology of 2010?
There are already a wealth of mobile phones that use an accelerometer which will rotate the screen to suit how the phone is being held; hold the phone its side and the screen will switch to landscape with varying levels of speed depending on the phone (theNokia 5800 and Apple iPhone are the current best in class - screen rotation is almost instant). Recent launches have also seen phones with limited motion sensitivity used in games (Sony Ericsson F305,LG KC780) and to control certain applications (Shake control on theSony Ericsson W910). But what about a fully motion sensitive phone? A phone that does away with buttons and any interaction with the screen, is this possible and could it work well enough to replace current input and navigation methods? We have seen how the Nintendo Wii has revolutionised Console gaming with motion snsitive controls, could we see the same in the mobile world?
Find your current phone too rigid and uncompromising? Wish your phone was more flexible…literally? Well say hello to the NokiaMorph concept phone. Launched alongside The Museum of Modern Art “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition, the Morph concept promises to deliver flexible materials with levels of transparency. So basically a see through bendy phone. Though maybe this is being a bit dismissive, the idea of being able to “morph”, change shape and adapt to the task at hand sounds quite promising. You have the morph on your wrist as a watch. The phone rings. You take it off, straighten it out and answer the call. Tell me that isn’t cool! Meanwhile, the transparency promises to deliver an all new aesthetic. And the best bit? The Morph concept phone uses nano technology to create self cleaning surfaces. Put simply - the phone cleans itself. The days of fingerprint-riddled screens could soon be coming to an end.
Ever had a picture or video on your phone that you wished you could share with a wider audience? Well you’re not alone, it seems someone at Samsung had the very same wish that now looks set to become a reality. The projector phone is fairly self explanatory, On the top of the phone we find a projector which projects whatever is on the mobile screen on to a nearby surface. Perfect if you want to show off a video or picture but don’t want to have to squint at a (relatively) small mobile screen. Best of all, the phone that this concept was running on at the recent CES show was little bigger than an iPhone and featured an equally impressive touchscreen interface. The bad news? The Samsung projector phone is only set to be available in Korea. But before you throw a tantrum, it’s worth bearing in mind alot of technologies that debut in the asian mobile markets do eventually find their way over to Europe. So Projector phones are definitely one to look out for in the future!
manufacturer Pantech have the answer. The Pantech Sky Wind phone responds to air blown at the microphone. Using what Pantech refer to as a “Blow Engine”, simply blow in to the mic and the phone will react accordingly. Change wallpaper with a puff of air, activate the camera with your breath and even blow out an on screen candle to adjust the screen brightness. Quite how the “Blow Engine” can interpret different actions for different tasks remains a mystery. Once again though, we can look to Nintendo who have succesfully incorporated blowing into the DS Lite as a feature for various games. Proof that it can be done.
Gone are the days when 6MB of on board memory and a 32MB memory card would suffice (reminiscing about my trusty oldNokia 6230). Now it seems that for any phone to be taken seriously it needs to pack a punch in the memory department, be it on board or expandable. Samsung tend to lead the pack with the i8510 and Omnia both packing 8GB internal memory and the option to expand it further. But the Koreans don’t have it all their own way; Nokia have the N96 with 16GB plus expansion, theApple iPhone 3G comes in 8GB and 16GB flavours and the HTC Touch HD, not to be outdone, comes bundled with an 8GB memory card. And this looks set to become the norm for future releases; the phone that everyone has their eyes on, the Nokia N97, is set to up the ante even further with 32GB of internal memory and a
MicroSD memory card slot.
have changed quite a lot since the days of old when the 6230 was king. Increasing the Megapixel count incamera phones increases the file size of captured images and they need to be saved somewhere. Giving a phone lightening quick HSDPA mobile Broadband is pointless if you don’t have the space for all those high speed downloads. And a phone with an MP3 player is never going to trouble a stand alone music player unless it’s packing Gigs of memory. When phones are announced with ridiculously high amounts of internal memory it is easy to dismiss it as the manufacturers engaging in a bit of oneupmanship. But when you consider what mobile phones are capable of, you’ll see why. Personally i run a Nokia N82 (bundled with a 2GB card) and have a separate MP3 player for music on the go. Come my next upgrade though, the MP3 player may find itself banished to a dusty shelf in favour of one of the new mass memory mobile phones that are on the horizon!
The Apple iPhone 3G is not short of admirers and you don’t have to look far to find someone proclaiming the iPhone’s superiority over its rivals. It’s easy to see why, with a seemingly never ending list of features with something to appeal to everyone. From the fantastic multi touchtouchscreen, the massive memory and iTunes support to the brilliant web browsing capabilities. But of all the innovations, i don’t think anyone expected the App store to take off as it has. With over 15,000 apps available and more always in development it seems the possibilities are endless. And what has Apple got in store for us now? Well they’ve only gone and solved the Rubik’s Cube!
be put to rest thanks to the new iPhone app CubeCheater. CubeCheater will solve any Rubik’s Cube (except for those that have been smashed to pieces in frustration) in one of two ways; either match up the colours on the screen to that of your cube or use the iPhones camera to take pictures of a few of the sides of your Rubik’s Cube. Once CubeCheater has all the information it needs, it will work out the answer and then show you a detailed diagram of the moves needed to solve the puzzle. And better still, the author of the App claims it should take less than 19 moves to solve any cube. So there you have it, surely the best App to appear on the App Store so far.
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