Hardware > Earlier Phones
Nokia uncloaks Lumia 620: A 'budget' $249 Windows 8 mobe
Nokia has announced its third Windows Phone 8 mobile, the sixth from any manufacturer to use Microsoft’s new operating system. Priced at $249 (£154) SIM-free, the Lumia 620 is a diminutive "budget" model with a 3.8in screen, parking it at the rather pricey end of where the budget market it is today.
The 620 includes a microSD …
Twenty years of text messages: We've reached Peak SMS
The first SMS text message was sent twenty years ago, when Neil Papworth sent a Merry Christmas to a mobile phone, an innovation which went almost unnoticed for the next half-decade.
The Short Message Service took a while to take hold, longer still before network operators realised what a cash cow SMS could be, and longer again …
Chinese buyers falling out of love with iPhones
Google famously failed to make a big dent in China and now it looks like Apple may be about to hit the Great Wall too, after new analysis of local sentiment found the fruity company out of favour with local consumers.
The source of that analysis is Taiwan’s TRENDforce which teamed with Chinese outfit AVANTI Research Partners to …
Troll sues Apple for daring to plug headphones into iPhone
A patent hoarding firm is suing Apple for $3m for allegedly ripping off a protected design that describes plugging headphones into a mobile phone.
Intelligent Smart Phone Concepts, a Delaware company with no web presence, launched its legal action against iPhone-maker Apple in California. ISPC has demanded damages for the …
Ten weird Chinese mobile phones
Product Round-up Shopping for a mobile phone this Christmas? You could make the easy choice and get an Apple iPhone 5, one of Samsung's recent releases or take a punt on whether enough apps will emerge to make the Nokia Lumia 920 worth your hard-earned cash.
But no matter how refined those phones, they're also common as muck, so they're never …
Nokia Lumia 820 WinPho 8 review
The Nokia Lumia 820 is the second of Nokia's two new Windows phones. It's the neglected sibling of the flagship Lumia 920, and is barely mentioned in Nokia's presentations. But I found it a very capable handset, with plenty to commend it. Why does this sound a bit familiar?
Nokia Lumia 820 Windows Phone 8 Nokia's Lumia 820: It …
Nexus 4 actually has 4G: But only in Canada, and potentially ILLEGAL
The Nexus 4, Google's surprisingly cheap Android flagship, has another trick up its sleeve: an LTE radio which can be activated from some hidden settings.
The handset, which retails at £239 if you can get one, isn't supposed to support 4G at all, but the Qualcomm chip inside it supports LTE and users on XDA Developers discovered …
Huawei hawks hundred quid handset hupdate
Huawei's refreshed sub-£100 Android phone, the Ascend G330, will be available in the UK from early December, the manufacturer said today.
The Chinese company will attempt to build upon the G300's success in the budget Android market through the next-gen model, which steps things up a notch from its highly-rated predecessor.
The …
Nokia HERE iOS maps app review
There’s never been a better time to publish a mapping app for iOS. Apple’s own Maps app is a laughing stock and Google is apparently dithering over whether to bother submitting an app version of its mapping solution for Apple’s approval, or lack thereof. So Nokia has stepped into the breach with HERE, a re-branded version of its …
No hiding now, fandroids: Smartmobe chip STALKS YOU INDOORS
Vid Qualcomm and Cisco are collaborating to produce better location-tracking technology using networking gear and the Snapdragon chip otherwise found in smartphones.
The process uses Cisco's new HotSpot 2.0 wireless routers, which can pinpoint a connected user's position within a couple of metres; good enough for following one …
Acer CloudMobile S500 Android phone review
When I recently took a quick shufti at the alternatives on offer to anyone harbouring doubts about the iPhone 5 I stuck my neck out and awarded a Recommended badge to a phone I’d only used briefly at a trade show. After using it for a week has my enthusiasm waned? Nope.
Acer CloudMobile S500 Android smartphone Bargain blower: …
Bah humbug! Google cancels Christmas
The People app in Android 4.2 has forgotten that the month of December exists.
People includes a limited calendaring function that is mainly used to assign birthdays to contacts.
But if you try to use it to record the birthday of a certain Judean carpenter, you'll struggle to do so, because the whole month of December, …
'iPhone 5S' said to begin trial production next month
This December, Apple's Asian product assemblers will begin the first trial-production batch of its next version of the iPhone, said to be dubbed the iPhone 5S, in preparation for large-scale shipments (大舉出貨) to begin in the first quarter of next year.
This news rumor comes via the Chinese-language Commercial Times in an article …
RIM sets date for BlackBerry 10 reveal
Research in Motion has finally set an official launch date for BlackBerry 10. The full reveal will take place at event to be held on 30 January 2013.
The much-hyped BlackBerry 10 platform will be announced "simultaneously in multiple countries across the world", the company says in its BlackBerry blog.
While we have yet to hear …
Samsung turns screws on Apple, hikes A6 processor price 20%
Samsung has hiked the price of processors used in Apple's iDevices by 20 per cent and the fruity firm has had to suck it up, Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo said.
A source told the paper that Samsung said it wanted more moolah for its application processors and Apple has had to accept this because no one else can fulfil the …
Ofcom sets auction timetable: UK's 4G monopoly will end in June
Ofcom has drafted the legislation to open up two 4G bands next year, with bidders required to register by 11 December, the auction in January and the awards in June.
The regulator published its proposals for the auction in August, but this is the proposed legislation which will make that auction happen. The final rules don't …
20 years of GSM digital mobile phones
Twenty years ago today, on 9 November 1992, Nokia launched the world's first commercially available GSM digital mobile phone - the Nokia 1011 - strengthening consumer interest in the world of mobile connectivity. The candybar device - which weighed a whopping 475g and could sustain a conversation for no more than 90 minutes - …
Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset review
If you ever go down the pub and let slip you’re a tech writer, you’re invariably asked for recommendations. With smartphones, this is pretty difficult these days because they’re all pretty good. No, scrap that, today’s devices are just amazing compared to what you could get a few years ago. They all do a job; you can’t really …
Xbox SmartGlass comes to iOS
The iOS version of Xbox SmartGlass hit the App Store this week, bringing Microsoft's advanced remote console controllability to those with Apple devices a week after the release of the Android version.
Microsoft's Xbox SmartGlass technology turns mobile gadgets like the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into interactive second screens …
WTF is... RF-MEMS?
Feature Smartphones nowadays come with big screens, megapixel-packed cameras and, thanks to apps, many, many more features than anyone could have dreamed of in the early days of mobile telephony. It has even reached the stage where making telephone calls is just one small part of a modern phone. And yet the need to support all the radio …
Credit card-sized mobile simplified for oldies
Charity Age UK has unveiled a basic Sim-free mobile phone that lets users dial contacts directly with the touch of an oversized button.
The credit card-sized UK My Phone, jointly developed with specialist network operator CyCell, comes with a maximum of eight customised homescreen buttons, simplifying the art of speed-dial.
Age …
Sony's iOS Reader app hits iTunes - TWO YEARS LATE
In January 2011, Apple rejected Sony’s Reader app for iDevices. Sony today revealed the software is back on the cards.
A “media alert” from Sony US was issued at lunchtime today headed, “Sony Reader Store Introduces Reader for iOS.”
Unfortunately, the alert links to an empty HTML page, as does the headline that appears on Sony’ …
Virgin liberates landlines with converged call service
Virgin Media today unveiled SmartCall, an app which lets customers use unlimited minutes from their landline talk plans on smartphones through a Wi-Fi connection.
SmartCall automatically detects when such a service is possible and whether it would be included in a Virgin landline customer's talk plan. Subscribers with …
Skype floods UK stores with top-up cards
Skype has introduced prepaid cards to the UK, offering shoppers the option to purchase their call credits in stores.
Top-up VoIP vouchers - available for £10 and £20 - are on the way to various retailers, including Asda, Currys, PC World, Sainsburys and WHSmith. The prepaid amounts can be put towards subscription bundles as well …
Facebook Phone rumours are back: And probably true this time
The Facebook Phone rumours are back again. This time it's absolutely, positively, certainly, proven to exist by gadget blog Pocket-Lint and its "very reliable source". Sarcasm aside, it's true that a Facebook Phone has never had a better reason to exist.
Pocket-Lint reckons the Facebook Phone, made by HTC and named "HTC Opera UL …
Virgin close to releasing long-delayed TiVo app
Virgin Media first showed a TiVo app for iDevices off in June 2011. Almost 18 months later, the cable telly company may at long last be gearing up to release the software.
The app, which works with Virgin’s TiVo-based set-top box was originally due to go live in September 2011 but with that deadline missed, the company kept …
Microsoft building its own Phone hardware: Not 'If', but 'When'
Analysis Rumours refuse to die about a Surface-like smartphone coming from Microsoft.
The Wall St Journal cites unnamed sources as (this time) saying Microsoft is working with component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone design.
The paper reports Microsoft "is testing a smartphone design but isn't sure if a product will go …
The iPhone 5 WILL do 4G magic on Three ... but not until next year
Updated EE has filed notice with Ofcom of its intention to transfer 30MHz of spectrum to Three, but as expected it will be hanging onto the bands until the last possible moment.
The notice, which still has to be formally approved by the regulator, puts the first 20MHz of spectrum into Three's hands on October 1 2013, with EE clinging on …
Sony Xperia T Android smartphone review
Featuring in that new James Bond film, the Sony Xperia T may not be 007’s most advanced piece of kit, but it is one piece of Skyfall hardware that you can actually buy. Sony is clearly throwing the kitchen sink at the publicity effort, plastering bill board ads with the device and paying what must surely be an awful lot to be …
Panasonic pulls Euro smartphone after just a year
Panasonic has become the latest Japanese tech giant to fall on hard times, announcing projected losses for 2012 of ¥765bn (£5.9bn) and a hasty decision to pull out of the European smartphone market after just a year.
The firm persuaded four Japanese banks to loan it ¥600bn (£4.7bn) after announcing a record loss of ¥772.1bn (£ …
iPhone 5 imperilled by Sharp's 'huge' problems with tellies
Japanese electronics firm Sharp has warned that it might not be able to keep going as a company, a situation that could put pressure on supply of iPhone 5s.
Sharp's consumer electronics division is dragging it down and growth in its components business won't be enough to save it on its own, financial results show.
"As operating …
Microsoft reveals Windows Phone 8 support for Mac
Microsoft has refreshed its Windows Phone application for Macs, which now enables data transfer between Apple computers and Redmond's latest mobile platform.
The Windows Phone 3.0 update - previously dubbed Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac - has seen a massive overhaul, with support for Retina Display Macs, iPhoto 9.3.2, …
SMARTPHONES make TEENS have SEX with STRANGERS
Teens with internet-enabled phones will have more sex with fewer condoms, research at the University of Southern California has found. And the mobe-inspired jigjig was more likely to be with a stranger they met on the internet.
Having a smartphone opened up "a risky avenue" said the researchers: finding a correlation between …
Samsung reveals Galaxy Premier smartphone
Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Premier this week, another member of its smartphone family which looks to be a trimmed-down marginally more affordable version of the Galaxy S III.
The Samsung Galaxy Premier features a slightly smaller, 4.65in, 1280 x 720 display.
Innards are trimmed from the S III's quad-core processor to a 1.5GHz …
Samsung states sales date for Galaxy S III Mini
Samsung's Galaxy S III Mini hits UK shelves next week with a couple of free games and 50GB of Dropbox space.
The bijou brother of the Korean giant's flagship smartphone features a 4in, 800 x 480 display; a dual-core 1GHz ST-Ericsson Novathor U8420 chipset all running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
Customers have the choice of of 8GB …
Fans' loyalty questioned as iPhone popularity plummets
iPopularity is in a state of decline, with "Apple loyalty" said to have fallen for the first time since the iPhone's 2007 release.
Only 75 per cent of iPhone owners in Western Europe say they'd choose an Apple device for their next smartphone, new data from market watcher Strategy Analytics show.
That still seems a relatively …
Nokia primes Lumias for Windows Phone 8 push
Nokia hopes to make a splash in the Windows Phone 8 pool when its Lumia 920 and 820 hits shelves later this week.
The hotly anticipated Lumia 920 takes Nokia's PureView photography tech into the WinPho arena with an 8.7Mp sensor and f/2.0 aperture.
Nokia Lumia 920
The results - unlikely to be as impressive as the fake footage …
WinPho 8 fans now able to order HTC handsets
HTC's Windows Phone 8 range went up for pre-order today as the company prepares to flood the market with its 8X and 8S handsets this Friday.
The brightly coloured blowers - announced last month - join the roster of WinPho 8 devices set to complement Microsoft's platform release this week. Unlike devices from Nokia and others, …
Google Nexus 4 flips finger at Sandy, appears on YouTube
Google was to have launched the LG-made Nexus 4 smartphone today, but with Hurricane Sandy shutting down the advertising giant’s planned New York announcement, it has been left to Sweden’s Three network - it has been claimed - to reveal the handset in all its glory.
Of course, the specs are already out, thanks to the UK’s very …
Xbox SmartGlass hits Android ahead of schedule
Microsoft published the Xbox SmartGlass app for Android this weekend, giving those on Google's OS access before Windows Phone 8 even hits the market.
The application - launched on Windows RT devices on Friday - was expected to hit Google Play in 2013 after a lengthy period of MS exclusivity.
However, with the release of Windows …
Samsung ships two smartphones for every one Apple sells
We already knew smartphone shipments have never been higher, and now we know that, in Q3 at least, the beneficiary is Samsung.
According to ABI Research and Strategy Analytics, market watchers both, the Korean chaebol - a multi-industry colossus - took more than a third of the market. According to SA, Samsung’s share was 35.2 …
Carphone Warehouse outs LG-made Google Nexus 4 smartphone
Carphone Warehouse has inadvertently pre-announced the Google Nexus 4 handset, a 4.7in, 1280 x 768 smartphone made by LG.
It will run Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean - possibly 4.2; both versions are mentioned on the page - on a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU. There’s 2GB or Ram and 8GB of on-board storage but seemingly no …
